Show your work first

Before asking, say what you have already tried. It changes the reply entirely: the person can start from where you actually are rather than from the beginning, and they can see that their time is not substituting for effort you did not make.

This is also the difference between an ask you can repeat and one you cannot. Somebody who helps a person who clearly tried will help again. Somebody who feels they did the work will not — and will not tell you why.