I appreciate the sentiment but I'd argue that if you're looking for generic methodology, you should ask for a generic solution. The question shouldn't be "solve

I appreciate the sentiment but I'd argue that if you're looking for generic methodology, you should ask for a generic solution. The question shouldn't be "solve x^3 = 7", it should be "solve x^3 = y" or "solve x^y = z". If a student produces a correct answer to a numerical question that's correct by drawing a graph or doing a linear/binary search, that seems fine to me.