2.2.2 Computational Methods

Question 1

What are the computational methods? (4)

Answer 1

Recognition (1) Decomposition (1) Divide and conquer (1) Abstraction (1)

Question 2

What is recognition? (1)

Answer 2

Identifying the problem to be solved (1)

Question 3

What is decomposition? (3)

Answer 3

Splitting a problem into sub problems (1) then keeps splitting (1) until each problem can be solved (1)

Question 4

What is divide and conquer? (1)

Answer 4

Splitting a problem into smaller parts that can be solved (1)

Question 5

What is backtracking? (2)

Answer 5

After finding a solution or failing to find a solution (1) going back to an earlier step to test an alternative (1)

Question 6

What is data mining? (4)

Answer 6

Searching large amounts of data (1) for relationships between components that may not be obvious (1) May include pattern matching algorithms (1) May include anomoly detection algorithms (1)

Question 7

What is heuristic problem solving? (2)

Answer 7

Taking an educated guess (1) when it’s unfeasable to analyse all eventualities (1) ‘good enough’ (1)

Question 8

What is performance modelling? (2)

Answer 8

Simulating the behaviour of a system before it is used (1) eg stress testing with a large number of commands (1)

Question 9

What is pipelining in algorithms? (2)

Answer 9

The result of one section of code (1) is fed into another section of code (1) eg function A may use the output of function B as a parameter.

Question 10

What is visualisation? (2)

Answer 10

Presenting data in an easy to grasp way (1) for example a diagram of a binary tree (1)