Assignment: Am I Blind?!
As you are driving to an important job interview, you are too mentally preoccupied to notice you are running out of gas. Halfway to your destination, you do run out of gas and your car comes to a halt on the side of the street. Your interview is in twenty minutes and you are ten minutes (by car) away from it. You think about who may be able to bring you gas, and you think of your friend Mary. You call her, but there is no answer. You call Bob, but he is busy at the moment. You call Joe, and he says he will bring gas right away. You give Joe directions and hang up, feeling very lucky: Joe lives right around the corner! Six minutes later Joe shows up with a large container of gas, more than enough to get you to your destination. After thanking Joe, you ask him where he got the gas. He points to a gas station down the street, and he asks whether you had seen it yourself. Somewhat embarrassed, you remember that you had. Then he asks the big question, "How come you didn't just walk down to the station and get the gas yourself?"
A Problem Formulation is the way a sentence of the form "How To ____________?" is completed.