2.2.2 computational methods flashcards

Question 1

what is meant by a computable problem?

Answer 1

a problem that can be solved using an algorithm

Question 2

give 3 limiting factors to computable problems

Answer 2

processing power, processor speed, computer memory, time

Question 3

state 2 factors which may be considered during the problem definition phase

Answer 3

strengths and weaknesses of current solution

Question 4

what is the name given to the process in which problems are continually broken down until each subproblem can be represented as a subroutine?

Answer 4

problem decomposition

Question 5

state 2 purposes of problem decomposition

Answer 5

develop sections in parallel, faster project delivery

Question 6

describe how the divide and conquer technique works

Answer 6

the problem size is halved with every iteration. each individual subproblem is then solved recursively. the solutions to the subproblems are then recombined to form the final solution to the problem

Question 7

give 2 applications of divide and conquer

Answer 7

merge sort, binary search, quick sort

Question 8

which programming construct do many problems solved using divide and conquer use?

Answer 8

recursion

Question 9

what is representational abstraction?

Answer 9

a computational technique in which excessive details are removed to simplify a problem

Question 10

what type of abstraction is used to group together sections of the problem based on their functionality

Answer 10

abstractions by generalisation

Question 11

state 2 problem solving techniques

Answer 11

back tracking, data mining, abstraction, divide and conquer

Question 12

describe how backtracking works?

Answer 12

The backtracking algorithm works by methodically visiting each path and building a solution based on the paths found to be correct. If a path is found to be invalid at any point, it backtracks to the previous stage and visits an alternate path.

Question 13

what might heuristics be used in problem solving?

Answer 13

when the standard way to solve the problem is unreasonably time consuming or resource-intensive

Question 14

state 2 advantages of using performance modelling

Answer 14

safe, less time consuming

Question 15

what is pipelining?

Answer 15

A process in which tasks are developed in parallel. The output of one process in pipelining becomes the input of another, resembling a production line

Question 16

What is the name given to the technique used to identify patterns and trends in large sets of data?

Answer 16

data mining