The sea ice travel problem — solved by developing reading systems for ice behavior, including the ability to assess structural integrity, predict movement patterns, identify safe routes, and know when conditions were too dangerous to travel.

The marine mammal hunting problem — solved by developing specialized technologies (kayak, umiak, harpoon, ice hunting techniques) and the detailed behavioral knowledge of specific species that made hunting reliable rather than opportunistic.

The Arctic nutrition problem — solved by developing a diet based on foods available in the Arctic that collectively provided the full nutritional spectrum required for human health in extreme cold.

Each of these solutions had been arrived at empirically, through observation and accumulated trial and error over thousands of years.