Unit 6: Algorithms

Lesson 1: Algorithms Solve Problems

Lesson 2: Algorithm Efficiency
Lesson 3: Unreasonable Time
Lesson 4: The Limits of Algorithms
Lesson 5: Distributed Algorithms
Lesson 6: Assessment Day
 Unit 6 - Lesson 1
Algorithms Solve Problems
Unit 6 Lesson 1 - Warm Up

Prompt:

What makes two pieces of code “the same”?

Could there ever be two pieces of code that

you consider to be “the same” even if they
aren’t identical?
Unit 6 Lesson 1 - Activity

Go around the room and write down your answers to these problems.

Problems
1. Find a person whose birthday is before yours
2. Find a person whose birthday is after yours
3. Find the person whose birthday is the closest before yours
4. Find the person whose birthday is the closest after yours
5. Find the person whose birthday is closest to yours
6. Find the person with an equal number of birthdays before and after theirs
7. Find the two people with the closest birthdays in the room
8. Find the shortest period of time in which three people have birthdays
9. Find the shortest period of time in which four people have birthdays
10. Find the longest period of time in which no one has a birthday
Unit 6 Lesson 1 - Activity

Prompt:
Share with someone how you went
about solving each of these problems.

Which problems did you need to do

something similar in order to solve
them?
Unit 6 Lesson 1 - Activity
Algorithm 1 With your partner decide which of these programs are “the same” as one another.
MOVE_FORWARD() Algorithm 4
TURN_RIGHT() Start
MOVE_FORWARD() Start
TURN_RIGHT() Algorithm 6
MOVE_FORWARD()
count ← 0
TURN_RIGHT()
MOVE_FORWARD() count ← 0
TURN_RIGHT()

Algorithm 2
false true
REPEAT 2 TIMES count < 4 false true
{ count < 2
MOVE_FORWARD() MOVE_FORWARD()
MOVE_FORWARD() End
TURN_RIGHT()
TURN_RIGHT() count ← count + 1
MOVE_FORWARD() MOVE_FORWARD()
End MOVE_FORWARD()
TURN_RIGHT() Algorithm 5
} turnCount ← 0
REPEAT 2 TIMES
Algorithm 3 {
REPEAT 2 TIMES
moves ← [“F”, “R”, “F”, “R”, “F”, “R”, “F”, “R”] {
FOR EACH move IN moves MOVE_FORWARD() false turnCount true
{ } < 3
IF (move = “F”) REPEAT 3 TIMES
{ {
MOVE_FORWARD() TURN_LEFT() MOVE_FORWARD()
} } TURN_RIGHT()
ELSE MOVE_FORWARD() count ← count + TURN_LEFT()
{ REPEAT 3 TIMES 1 turnCount ← turnCount + 1
TURN_RIGHT() {
} TURN_LEFT()
} }
}
Unit 6 Lesson 1 - Activity

Prompt:
Discuss with another group
which of these algorithms are “the
same” as one another?

How did you decide that?

Unit 6 Lesson 1 - Wrap Up

Problem: a general description of a task that can (or cannot) be solved with an algorithm
Algorithm: a finite set of instructions that accomplish a task.

There are usually many algorithms to solve the same problem, and many ways to write or express
one algorithm including natural language, psuedocode, diagrams, and are implemented using
programming code. All algorithms can be created by combining steps in three different ways.

Sequencing Selection Iteration

Putting steps in an order Deciding which steps to do next Doing some steps over and over
Unit 6 Lesson 1 - Wrap Up

Prompt:

How did today’s activities change the

way you think about algorithms and
problems?
 Unit 6 - Lesson 2
Algorithm Efficiency
Unit 6 Lesson 2 - Warm Up

Prompt:

Have you ever lost a pencil in a

backpack? What are the steps you take
to find the pencil?
Unit 6 Lesson 2 - Activity

Algorithm Efficiency
You and your partner should have:
Sticky Notes
Your Journal

AP CSP
Journal
Unit 6 Lesson 2 - Activity

3 Volunteers:

● Navigate to the second level

on Code Studio.
● Click to generate your raffle
ticket number.
● Write the number on a sticky
note.
● Come up to the front of the
room.
Unit 6 Lesson 2 - Activity

Problem: Figure out if anyone has

the winning raffle ticket

Instance: A list of tickets plus the

winning number

Let's check if anyone has the

winning number!

Do This: Check for the winning

number, by revealing your numbers,
one by one.
Unit 6 Lesson 2 - Activity

Prompt:
How many steps did it take to find out if anyone
had the winning ticket? What is the greatest
possible number of steps it could take for this
instance?
Unit 6 Lesson 2 - Activity

Prompt:

What if we had six volunteers? The whole

class? The whole school?

What is the pattern here?

Unit 6 Lesson 2 - Activity

inputs steps

Instance 3 3 10
9
8
7
6 6

steps
Instance 6
5
4
3
Instance 10 10 2
1

Instance 100 100 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

inputs
Unit 6 Lesson 2 - Activity

With a partner…

Do This:
● Use the ticket generator to generate
seven tickets. Write down the numbers
on separate sticky notes.
● Organize the sticky notes in numerical
order.
● Copy one of the numbers on to a 705
separate sticky note. This is the number
you are searching for.

117 232 245 410 705 716 833

Unit 6 Lesson 2 - Activity

Challenge: Create an algorithm to determine if a given

number is in a list of sorted numbers.
● The search can start at any of the sticky notes

● You can "jump" over sticky notes. In other words, you don't need to search the stickies in order.

● You can determine which sticky notes to search next based on the current sticky note you are
checking.

● The goal is to make the determination in the least steps possible, but don't forget your number
could be anywhere in the list - what is the worst possible case? What is the greatest number of
comparison steps it would take to find any number in your list using your current algorithm?
Unit 6 Lesson 2 - Activity

Share & Compare: Partner up with another group.

Share your algorithms and practice running both fully.
Determine which one is "faster" or takes the least
amount of comparison steps.
Unit 6 Lesson 2 - Activity

Do This: Now try this algorithm. See how it compares to your own.

1. Find the middle number in the list. Compare that number to the given
number. If the middle number is less than the given number, remove all of
the cards to the left (including the middle number). If the middle number is
more than the given number, remove all of the cards to the right (including
the middle number).
2. Find the middle number in this shorter list. Follow the instructions in Step
#1 for comparing.
3. Find the middle number in this new shorter list. Follow the instructions in
Step #1 for comparing.

You have found your number!

Unit 6 Lesson 2 - Activity

🔍 Binary Search: 705

We found the
number! 705 is in 705 705 705
the list. GREATER LESS
compare EQUAL TO!
compare compare
THAN THAN

117 232 245 410 705 716 833

STEP 1 STEP 3 STEP 2

Unit 6 Lesson 2 - Activity

Do This: Now try the Binary Search algorithm for different instances. We've done a few
for you! Copy the instance table to your journal and plot the points on the graph.
15
inputs steps 14
13
Instance 1 1 12
11
10
Instance 3 2

steps
9
8
Instance 5 3 7
6
5
Instance 7 3 4
3
2
Instance 9 4 1

Instance 15 4 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
inputs
Unit 6 Lesson 2 - Activity

There's another way of thinking about this. Can you see the pattern?

How many bits does it take to represent 1 in Binary?

inputs steps
Instance 1 1 1
Instance 3 2 What about 7?

Instance 5 3
1 1 1
Instance 7 3
And 15?
Instance 9 4
Instance 15 4 1 1 1 1
Unit 6 Lesson 2 - Activity

Here's our two search algorithms we've

15 explored. The first is linear. As we add
14 more inputs, the number of steps grows
13 at the same rate.
12
11
10 The second represents what

R
9 happens with Binary Search. Notice

EA
8 how it grows at a much slower rate!
Binary Search is faster than Linear

N
7
search, BUT the data must be
6
5 LI sorted.
4
3
2
1 Binary Search
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Unit 6 Lesson 2 - Wrap Up

Prompt:
If I had one input, which algorithm would I use
to get my answer with the fewest amount of
steps?

What if I had five?

What about one hundred?

Unit 6 Lesson 2 - Wrap Up

Efficiency: a measure of how many steps

are needed to complete an algorithm 15
14
13
Linear Search: a search algorithm which 12
checks each element of a list, in order, until 11
10

R
the desired value is found or all elements 9

EA
in the list have been checked. 8

N
7

LI
6
Binary Search: a search algorithm that 5
starts at the middle of a sorted set of 4
numbers and removes half of the data; this 3
2
process repeats until the desired value is
found or all elements have been
1 Binary Search
eliminated. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
 Unit 6 - Lesson 3
Unreasonable Time
Unit 6 Lesson 3 - Warm Up

Prompt:

What does it mean to say one

algorithm is “more efficient” than
another?
Unit 6 Lesson 3 - Activity

The Pair Raffle

The winners are any two tickets that
adds to the winning number.

The winning number is 1000.

Do This
Generate a ticket
Silently move around the room.
See if you’re a part of a winning pair!
Unit 6 Lesson 3 - Activity

The Group Raffle

The winners are any group of (from one
ticket up to all of them) that adds to the
winning number.

The winning number is 2500.

Do This
Generate a ticket
Move around the room (you can talk this
time
See if you’re part of a winning group!
Unit 6 Lesson 3 - Activity

Prompt
Which raffle felt like it was more difficult to
check? Why?
Unit 6 Lesson 3 - Activity

We could write an algorithm that goes through every

possible “check” for the pair raffle or the group raffle.

Let’s see how many checks there are!

With your partner fill in the two tables on the activity guide.
Unit 6 Lesson 3 - Activity

Share your responses with another group!

Unit 6 Lesson 3 - Activity

tickets checks Pair raffle

The exact formula for this
2 1 10
relationship is

9 (n2 - n)/2
8
3 3 7 You don’t need to know that

checks
6 formula, but you should know
5 that because of the
4 “n-squared” term the graph
4 6 3 curves up.
2
1 Any algorithm whose
efficiency includes an n2, n3,
5 10 n4 … is called polynomial.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

tickets
8 28
Unit 6 Lesson 3 - Activity

tickets checks Group raffle

The exact formula for this
2 3 10
relationship is

9 (2n) - 1
8
3 7 7 You don’t need to know that

checks
6 formula, but you should know
5 that because of the “2 to the
4 n” term the graph curves up
4 15 3
2
very quickly.

1 Any algorithm whose

efficiency includes an 2n, 3n,
5 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
4n … is called exponential.

tickets
8 255
Unit 6 Lesson 3 - Activity

There's another way of thinking about this.

The number of checks is the largest number you can

make with that many bits.
tickets checks
1 1
1
2 3
1 1
3 7

4 15 1 1 1
5 31

8 255 1 1 1 1
Unit 6 Lesson 3 - Activity

Reasonable or Unreasonable Time?

● Click run to start the app.
● Move the slider and see what
happens.

← Sorted Raffle

← Normal Raffle
Discuss with a partner:
← Pair Raffle a. Which of these algorithms run
in a reasonable amount of
← Group Raffle time?
b. Which run in an unreasonable
amount of time?
Unit 6 Lesson 3 - Activity

Polynomial and Exponential both curve up.

Why do you think only exponential is considered “unreasonable”?

Exponential / Group Raffle

Unreasonable Polynomial / Pair Raffle
Reasonable

Linear / Normal Raffle

Reasonable
checks

Log / Sorted Raffle

Reasonable

tickets
Unit 6 Lesson 3 - Activity

Tickets Sorted Raffle Normal Raffle Pair Raffle Group Raffle

log linear polynomial exponential

10 4 Checks 10 checks 100 checks 1,024 checks

20 5 checks 20 checks 400 checks 1,048,576 checks

At this point
there are more
100 7 checks 100 checks 10,000 checks 1.26 * 1030 checks checks than
atoms in the
1000 10 checks 1,000 checks 1,000,000 checks 1.07 * 10301 checks universe

10,000 14 checks 10,000 checks 100,000,000 checks 2.00 * 103010 checks

100,000 17 checks 100,000 checks 10,000,000,000 checks 9.99 * 1030102 checks

Polynomial is bad but exponential gets

unreasonably large extremely quickly.
Unit 6 Lesson 3 - Wrap Up

Reasonable Time: Algorithms with a polynomial

efficiency or lower (constant, linear, square, cube, etc.) are
said to run in a reasonable amount of time.

Unreasonable Time: Algorithms with exponential or

factorial efficiencies are examples of algorithms that run in
an unreasonable amount of time.
Unit 6 Lesson 3 - Wrap Up

Prompt:
Your school is considering running the
group raffle at an upcoming assembly
to give away a prize.

Write a brief explanation of what

advice you would give them.
 Unit 6 - Lesson 4
The Limits of Algorithms
Unit 6 Lesson 4 - Warm Up

Prompt:

What is the difference between a reasonable

and unreasonable time algorithm?
Unit 6 Lesson 4 - Activity

Traveling Salesman
You should have:
Your journal
Pen/pencil

AP CSP
Journal
Unit 6 Lesson 4 - Activity

Prompt: How many different paths can you find to

visit all of your friends' houses?
Rules:
● You must start and end at your own house.
● You can only visit each house once.

⌂ ⌂
⌂ ⌂
Unit 6 Lesson 4 - Activity

⌂ ⌂ ⌂ ⌂ ⌂ ⌂
⌂ ⌂ ⌂ ⌂ ⌂ ⌂
Here are a few different paths you might take.

Prompt:
What do you need to know to
determine the best path?
Unit 6 Lesson 4 - Activity

⌂ ⌂ ⌂ ⌂
1
1

1
1

2
⌂ ⌂
1
2
2 1

⌂ ⌂ ⌂ ⌂ 1 1
2
⌂ ⌂
Total: 4 Total: 6 Total: 6

Distance!
Unit 6 Lesson 4 - Activity

Prompt: What if we had a lot more places to visit? How would

we determine the best path?
⌂ ⌂ ⌂
⌂ ⌂ ⌂ ⌂
⌂ ⌂
⌂ ⌂ ⌂ ⌂
⌂ ⌂ ⌂ ⌂ ⌂
⌂ ⌂
Unit 6 Lesson 4 - Activity

This is known as the Traveling Salesman Problem.

For every new place to visit, the number of options for possible paths increases
factorialy.

Number of houses to visit Number of steps to check for the

"best" path
1 1
2 2
3 6
4 24
5 120
6 720
7 5,040
8 40,320
9 362,880
10 3,628,800
Unit 6 Lesson 4 - Activity

Factorial fun: n!
Number of houses to Number of steps
visit to check for the
Here's how n! works: "best" path

Multiply all whole numbers from the given number 1 1

down to the number 1. 2 2
3 6
For example: 4 24
Instance: 4 houses to visit
5 120
6 720
4 x 3 x 2 x 1 = 24
7 5,040
Instance: 7 houses to visit 8 40,320
9 362,880
7 x 6 x 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 = 5,040 10 3,628,800

That's a lot of possible paths

to check for only 10 houses!
Unit 6 Lesson 4 - Activity

Problems

Any task that may (or may not) be solved with an algorithm.
Sorting a list is a problem. Sorting the list (2, 3, 1, 7) is an instance of that problem.

Decision Problems Optimization Problems

“Is there a path?” “What’s the shortest path”?

Unit 6 Lesson 4 - Activity

The Traveling Salesman Problem can

be solved with an algorithm, which
checks each possible option.

BUT, it would take massive amounts of

computing power to compare every
single option, especially as the number
of homes to visit (otherwise known as
nodes) increases.

Therefore, it would take an

unreasonable amount of time for the
solution to be calculated for most
instances of the problem.
Unit 6 Lesson 4 - Activity

Welcome to heuristics!

● Provide a "good enough" solution to a problem when an

actual solution is impractical or impossible
Unit 6 Lesson 4 - Activity

Do This:
● Navigate to Level 1 on Code Studio
● Try to find the "best" path to visit all
nodes.
● Write down a plan or heuristic for
choosing a good path.
○ Note: your heuristic may not
always find the best path, but it
should be close enough

AP CSP
Journal
Unit 6 Lesson 4 - Activity

Do This:
● Navigate to Level 2 on Code Studio
● Test your heuristic on three different
levels. Distance Distance
● Write down the distance for the path (Heuristic) (Brute Force)
your heuristic finds.
1225 1215
● Try to find the best version not using
the heuristic (brute force). Can you find
a better path? Is your heuristic on
average pretty good? Should you
update your heuristic?

AP CSP
Journal
Unit 6 Lesson 4 - Activity

Prompt:

● How did you create your heuristic?

● Did you change your heuristic after

testing it out?
Unit 6 Lesson 4 - Activity

Share Out:

Explain your heuristic.

As a class, which do we think is best?

Unit 6 Lesson 4 - Activity

9
Sample Heuristic: 10
8

11
At each node, travel to 7
12
the next closest node 6
5

Is this "good enough"? 1 4

2
3
Unit 6 Lesson 4 - Activity

Takeaways:
The Traveling Salesman Problem is an optimization
problem. We are attempting to find the best path.

It is also unreasonable because there is not an algorithm

that can solve the problem in a reasonable amount of time.

We need to use a heuristic to come up with a solution that

is "good enough" for most instances of the problem.
Unit 6 Lesson 4 - Activity

Problems

Any task that may (or may not) be solved with an algorithm.
Sorting a list is a problem. Sorting the list (2, 3, 1, 7) is an instance of that problem.

Decision Problems Optimization Problems

“Is there a path?” “What’s the shortest path”?

Undecidable Problems

“Will this code work?”

Unit 6 Lesson 4 - Activity
Unit 6 Lesson 4 - Activity

Takeaways:
There are some problems we’ve proven that no computer
will ever be able to solve. The Halting Problem is a very
famous example and in general we call these problems
undecidable.
Unit 6 Lesson 4 - Wrap Up

Prompt:

Why is a heuristic acceptable when it

doesn't always produce the "best"
result?
Unit 6 Lesson 4 - Wrap Up

Heuristic: provides a "good enough" solution to a

problem when an actual solution is impractical or
impossible

Undecidable Problem: a problem for which no algorithm

can be constructed that is always capable of providing a
correct yes-or-no answer
 Unit 6 - Lesson 5
Distributed Algorithms
Unit 6 Lesson 5 - Warm Up

Prompt:
Brainstorm a task that you can
complete faster if you get other people
to help.

What’s the most number of people

you’d want to help you and why?
Unit 6 Lesson 5 - Activity

Parallel Algorithms and Speedup

Groups: Get into groups of 3 or 4
Each group should have a deck of cards
Unit 6 Lesson 5 - Activity

Challenge One - One Person Sort

Shuffle the cards

Put them in a neat stack, face down
As quickly as you can, get the cards sorted
so all the red cards are at the bottom and all
the black cards are at the top.
Time stops when you have the cards sorted
and back in a neat stack.

Record the best time in your group

Unit 6 Lesson 5 - Activity

Challenge Two - Two Person Sort

Shuffle the cards

Put them in a neat stack, face down
As quickly as you can, get the cards sorted
so all the red cards are at the bottom and all
the black cards are at the top.
Time stops when you have the cards sorted
and back in a neat stack.

This time two people can sort the cards.

Record the best time in your group
Unit 6 Lesson 5 - Activity

Challenge Three - Full Group Sort

Shuffle the cards

Put them in a neat stack, face down
As quickly as you can, get the cards sorted
so all the red cards are at the bottom and all
the black cards are at the top.
Time stops when you have the cards sorted
and back in a neat stack.

This time your entire group (three or four

people) can sort the cards.
Record the best time in your group
Unit 6 Lesson 5 - Activity

Sequential Parallel
Steps are performed in order, Some steps are performed at
one at a time. the same time.

Sequential

Parallel
Unit 6 Lesson 5 - Activity

Prompt
What portions of your algorithms for
Challenges 2 and 3 were parallel?

What makes things complicated or

slows you down during parallel
portions of your algorithm?
Unit 6 Lesson 5 - Activity

Speedup
Sequential time divided by parallel time

Prompt: What was your group’s

speedup in Challenge 2?

What about in Challenge 3?

Are you surprised?

60 seconds 40 seconds

60 seconds / 40 seconds = 1.5

The speedup of this parallel solution is 1.5
Unit 6 Lesson 5 - Activity

It’s not just you! Speed-up is

never equal to the number
of processors.

Some portions of your

algorithm can’t be made
parallel. Each additional
processor helps a little less.
Eventually the speedup
reaches a limit.
Unit 6 Lesson 5 - Activity

Prompt
As you watch this video write down

● Why is the type of computing

presented “distributed”?
● Why is distributed computing used to
solve the problem?
Unit 6 Lesson 5 - Activity
Unit 6 Lesson 5 - Activity

Prompt
As you watch this video write down

● Why is the type of computing

presented “distributed”?
● Why is distributed computing used to
solve the problem?
Unit 6 Lesson 5 - Wrap Up

Sequential Computing: programs run in order, one

command at a time.

Parallel Computing: programs are broken into small

pieces, some of which are run simultaneously

Distributed Computing: programs are run by multiple

devices

Speedup: the time used to complete a task sequentially

divided by the time to complete a task in parallel
Unit 6 Lesson 5 - Wrap Up

Prompt:

Based on today’s activities, what are

the pros and cons of parallel and
distributed computing?
Unit 6 - Lesson 6
Assessment Day
Unit 3 Lesson 10 - Activity

Unit Assessment