Unit 1 - Quiz Questions

Question 1

In theoretical computer science, researchers study the logical and ___ of problems and their solutions.

Answer 1

Mathematical Properties

Question 2

Designing programming languages and translating algorithms into these languages is known as ____ realization.

Answer 2

linguistic

Question 3

An algorithm is essentially useless when __________________________________.

Answer 3

It takes too long to compute/execute

Question 4

What is wrong with the following:

1. Set x to be 1
2. Increment x
3. Print x
4. If x>0, repeat from 2

Answer 4

X is never less than 0. The program doesnt halt to a stop.

Question 5

The history of mathematics begins _____ years ago

Answer 5

3000 or more years ago

Question 6

In Babbage’s analytical engine, a mill was used to __________.

Answer 6

Perform arithmetic operations.

Question 7

______ is an example of a natural language

Answer 7

English

Question 8

___________ operations provide the computing agent with data values from the outside world that it may then use in later instructions.

Answer 8

Input

Question 9

A purely _______ algorithm is sometimes termed a straight-line algorithm.

Answer 9

Sequential

Question 10

The _________ loop is an example of a posttest loop.

Answer 10

do/while

Question 11

The technique of looking at all the items in a list, starting at the beginning of the list, one at a time, until we either find what we are looking for or come to the end of the list is called ___________ search.

Answer 11

Sequential

Question 12

The selection of an algorithm to solve a problem is greatly influenced by the way the input ______________ for that problem are organized.

Answer 12

Data

Question 13

_________ is the algorithmic equivalence of style.

Answer 13

Elegance

Question 14

The study of the efficiency of algorithms is called the __________ of algorithms.

Answer 14

Analysis

Question 15

In the sequential search algorithm, the minimum amount of work is done if the value being searched for is the __________ value in the list.

Answer 15

First

Question 16

Placing a list of items into alphabetical or numerical order is called ___________.

Answer 16

Sorting

Question 17

The worst case in binary search occurs _______.

Answer 17

when the object to be searched for is not in the list

Question 18

The ____ sort algorithm performs the task of sorting a list by growing a sorted subsection of the list from the back to the front.

Answer 18

a. selection

Question 19

An _______ algorithm is called an exponential algorithm.

Answer 19

O(2^n)

Question 20

Problems for which no known polynomial solution algorithm exists are sometimes approached via _________ algorithms.

Answer 20

Approximation