General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level
Algorithm/ Pseudo Code Problem Solving Notes
STUDENT NAME
BATCH #
COMPUTER SCIENCE
This document consist of 14 printed pages
SEQUENTIAL CONTROL STRUCTURE - EXAMPLES
The pseudocode that you use may depend on your course: for example. Some people use
while/endwhile, and some use while/wend. Some use = and <> to mean equal and not equal,
whereas some use = = and != - or you could write it in English.
Some use input and output, some use read/print , some use accept/display. It doesn't really
matter - pseudocode is more concerned with the logic - the control flow issues.
Write pseudocode to:
1. Input the dimensions of a rectangle and print its area.
read length, breadth
area = length * breadth
display area
2. Input the dimensions of a rectangle and print area and perimeter.
read length, breadth
area = length * breadth
perimeter = 2*(length+breadth)
display area, perimeter
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SELECTION CONTROL STRUCTURE - EXAMPLES
3. Input the length of the side of a square, and print its area. Produce an error message if the
length is negative. (i.e.validation)
read side
if side is negative
print error message
else
print side*side
endif
4. Input 3 numbers and print either an "all 3 equal" or a "not all equal" message.
input a,b,c
if (a=b) and (a=c)
display "all 3 equal"
else
display "not all equal"
endif
5. Input 3 numbers, and print the biggest.
input a,b,c
if a>b
bigab=a
else
bigab=b
endif
if c>bigab
display c
else
display bigab
endif
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REPETITIVE/ ITERATIVE CONTROL STRUCTURE - EXAMPLES
6. Print the numbers 1 to 100 inclusive- with a while loop.
n=1
while n<=100
display n
n=n+1
endwhile
7. Print the numbers 1 to 100 inclusive with a for loop.
for n=1 to 100
display n
endfor
8. Input 2 values into the variables: start and finish, then print the integers from start to finish
inclusive. (use for)
input start, finish
for n=start to finish
print n
endfor
9. Input 2 values into the variables: start and finish, then print the integers from start to finish
inclusive. (use for) BUT, if start is bigger than finish, don't print the numbers: an error message
instead!
input start, finish
if start > finish
print error message
else
for n=start to finish
print n
endfor
endif
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REPETITIVE/ ITERATIVE CONTROL STRUCTURE - EXAMPLES
(Assignment Operator)
10. Input 2 values into the variables: start and finish, then print the integers from start to finish
inclusive. (use for) BUT if start is bigger than finish, swap over their values so they are now in
the proper order, then print the integers as specified.
input start, finish
if start> finish
interchange
endif
for n=start to finish
print n
endfor
proc interchange
temp=start
start=finish Assignment Operator (=)
finish=temp
endproc
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TOTALING - EXAMPLES
11. Input 10 numbers, and print their total.
sum=0
for n=1 to 10
input number
sum=sum+number
endfor
display sum
12. Input 10 numbers, and print their total - but any numbers>100 should be ignored, i.e should not
be summed.
sum=0
for n=1 to 10
input number
if number<=100
sum=sum+number
endif
endfor
display sum
13. Input a count, which specifies how many numbers will follow it. Print the total of the following
numbers. (eg the input might be: 4 33 52 67 83 - where the count is 4)
sum=0
input count
for n=1 to count
input number
sum=sum+number
endfor
display sum
14. Input a series of positive (>=0) numbers, ended by a negative one. Add up the numbers, and
print the total. The negative one is not to form part of the sum.
sum=0
input number
while number>=0
sum=sum+number
input number
endwhile
display sum
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15. Input 100 positive (>=0) numbers. Add up the numbers, and print the total. If a negative
number is encountered, the program should terminate, and print the sum so far.
sum=0
count=1
input number
while (count<=100)and(number>=0)
sum=sum+number
count=count+1
input number
endwhile
display sum
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16. Using nested fors, print an hours and minutes table, of the form:
0 0
0 1
0 2
0 3
...
0 59
1 0
1 1
1 2
...
as far as 11 hours 59 mins.
for hours=0 to 11
for mins=0 to 59
dis[play hours, mins
endfor
endfor
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OPEN, READ, WRITE DATA FILE - EXAMPLES
17. Assume the following file pseudocode:
open "fred" for input (reading)
open "june" for output (writing)
read data items from "fred" (you may read the whole line as a string, or read it
into separate variables - it depends
on the problem)
write data items to "june"
close "fred"
test for end of file, eg:
while not end of file
etc
Display each line of file "fred" on the screen.
open "fred" for input
read line from "fred"
while not end of file
display line
read line from "fred"
endwhile
close files
18. Read every line in "fred", and write them to file "june"
open "fred" for input
open "june" for output
read line from "fred"
while not end of file
write line to "june"
read line from "fred"
endwhile
close files
19. Count the number of lines in "fred"
open "fred" for input
count=1
read line from "fred"
while not end of file
read line from "fred"
count=count+1
endwhile
display count
close files
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20. In the following, assume that each line (record) contains a persons name and age
Display the ages of everyone called "smith"
open "fred" for input
read name, age from "fred"
while not end of file
if name is "smith"
display age
endif
read name, age from "fred"
endwhile
close files
21. Display the names of everyone who is over 40.
open "fred" for input
read name, age from "fred"
while not end of file
if age > 40
display name
endif
read name, age from "fred"
endwhile
close files
22. Write the names of everyone who is over 40 onto a new file.
open "fred" for input
open "june" for output
read name, age from "fred"
while not end of file
if age > 40
write name to "june"
endif
read name, age from "fred"
endwhile
close files
23. Write the names of everyone who is over 40 to one file, and the names of everyone <= 40 to
another file.
open "fred" for input
open "old" and "young" for output
read name, age from "fred"
while not end of file
if age > 40
write name to "old"
else
write name to "young"
endif
read name, age from "fred"
endwhile
close files
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ARRAYS - EXAMPLES
24. The following assume 2 integer arrays, a and b, with elements a[1] to a[100],and b[1] to b[100]
Note that in e.g C++, arrays are numbered from 0, - but that is a minor problem. Imagine that
we choose to avoid using element number 0.
Set every element of b to 0
for n=1 to 100
b[n]=0
endfor
25. Set a[1] to 1, a[2] to 4, a[3] to 9 etc
for n=1 to 100
a[n]=n*n
endfor
26. Read in 100 numbers, and store them in a.
for n=1 to 100
input number
a[n]=number
endfor
27. Read in a count, then read in the data values, storing them in a. eg- the data could be:
4, 55,1232,786,456 If the count is above 100, the program should terminate without reading
any numbers.
input count
if count<=100
for n=1 to count
input number
a[n]=number
endfor
endif
28. Read a series of positive numbers into a. The numbers are ended by a negative one, which is
not to be stored. (Assume there is not more than 100 numbers)
input number
n=1
while number>=0
a[n]=number
input number
endwhile
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29. Assume that 100 numbers have already been stored in a. Copy each one from the array a into
the array b.
for n=1 to 100
b[n]=a[n]
endfor
30. Assume that 100 numbers have already been stored in a. Find the biggest value in a.
big=a[1]
for n=2 to 100
if a[n]>big
big=a[n]
endif
endfor
31. Assume that 100 numbers have already been stored in a. Find the position of the biggest value.
bigposition=1
for n=2 to 100
if a[n]>a[bigposition]
bigposition=n
endif
endfor
32. Assume that 100 numbers have already been stored in a. Search the array a for the value 9876.
Either print its position, or print a 'not found' message.
found=no
n=1
while(n<=100) and (found = no)
if a[n]=9876
found=yes
else
n=n+1
endif
endwhile
if found=yes
print n
else
print "not found"
endif
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33. Read 100 numbers into a, then print the sequence in reverse order.
(eg- 123 43 -23 47 ... 667 is printed as:
667 ... 47 -23 43 123 )
for n=1 to 100
input a[n]
endfor
n=100
while n>=1 do (or you may know the "FOR..DOWNTO")
print a[n]
n=n-1
endwhile
34. Assume that 100 numbers have already been stored in a. Input 2 numbers ( position numbers
in the range 1 to 100) then print the values stored in the elements between the two positions.
(eg an input of 3 7 should cause the printing of the contents of a[3], a[4], a[5], a[6], a[7] )
input start, finish
for n=start to finish
print a[n]
endfor
35. Input 2 values - then look at the value stored in each element of the array (100 of them) and
print each value that falls between the 2 input values
input low, high
for n=1 to 100
if (a[n]>=low) and (a[n]<=high)
print a[n]
endif
endfor
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36. 100 students sit a 'before' exam, and their marks can be assumed to be in the array b. Later,
they do an 'after' exam, and those marks are in a. Print the subscript number (i.e in range 1 to
100) of the student who:
a) got the lowest mark overall (before + after)
b) improved the most between b and a.
a).
lowposition=1
lowvalue=1
for student=2 to 100
if a[n]+b[n] <lowvalue
lowvalue=a[n]+b[n]
lowposition=n
endif
endfor
display lowposition
b).
improveposition=1
improvemost=1
for student=2 to 100
if a[n]-b[n] >improvemost
improvemost=a[n]-b[n]
improveposition=n
endif
endfor
display improveposition
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