Programming and algorithmic exercises

Aerospatial engineering
2024-2025
 Part I

Python programming

1
Chapter 1

Basic input/output and

Math

1.1 Basic input/output

1. Basic I/O operations
(a) Write programs that print the following message in the output console
"Hello world"
(b) Write a program to receive the first and the last name of a user and
reverse their order., e..g ”Antonio Silva” => ”Silva, Antonio”

1.2 Basic Math

1. Integers
(a) Write a Python program that takes two integers as input from the
user and calculates their sum, difference, product, and quotient (in-
teger division) numbers.
(b) Create a Python program that reads an integer from the user and
checks if it’s even or odd. Print a message indicating whether it’s
even or odd.
(c) Create a Python program that reads an integer with exactly three
digits and reverse their order;
2. Integers (different basis)
(a) Create a Python program that reads three numbers in hexadecimal
sums the first two, substracts the third and shows the result:
i. in hexadecimal;
ii. in octal;
iii. in binary.
(b) Create a Python program that reads a number in binary and shows
it

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CHAPTER 1. BASIC INPUT/OUTPUT AND MATH 3

i. In octal;
ii. In hexadecimal.
(c) Create a Python program to count the number of 1s in a binary
number of 4 digits. [HARD]
3. Floating point
(a) Write a Python program that takes two floating-point numbers as
input and calculates their average (mean). Print the average.
(b) Build a Python program that reads a decimal number (floating-point)
from the user and rounds it to a specified number of decimal places.
The number of decimal places should also be entered by the user.
Print the rounded value.
(c) Build a Python program that reads a decimal number (floating-point)
from the user and calculates its square root.
(d) Build a Python program that reads four numbers, where the first
two define the point (x1 , y1 ) and the second ones the point (x2 , y2 ).
Calculate and show the distance between them.
(e) Design a program that converts currency amounts between two dif-
ferent currencies. Ask the user for the exchange rate and the amount
in one currency, then calculate and display the equivalent amount in
the other currency.
4. Physics
(a) Calculate a program to convert Celsius degrees into Farhenheit. The
formula is as follows:  
9
F = C + 32
5
where C and F are given by the user.

1.3 Aerospace
Some problems in aerospace that only require basic mathematics

1.3.1 Airplane fuel efficiency calculator

You are tasked with creating a program that calculates the fuel efficiency of an
airplane for a given flight. The user will provide the following inputs:
• Distance of the flight in kilometers (as a floating-point number).
• Amount of fuel consumed during the flight in liters (as a floating-point
number).

Your program should perform the following steps:

• Read the distance traveled and the amount of fuel consumed from the
user.
CHAPTER 1. BASIC INPUT/OUTPUT AND MATH 4

• Calculate the fuel efficiency (in liters per kilometer) by dividing the amount
of fuel consumed by the distance traveled.
• Calculate the fuel efficiency in miles per gallon (1 liter = 0.264172 gallons,
1 kilometer = 0.621371 miles).
• Display the fuel efficiency in liters per kilometer and miles per gallon to
the user.

1.3.2 Altitude Conversion and Display

Imagine you are designing a basic altitude display system for an airplane. The
system’s purpose is to convert altitude from meters to feet and display it to the
pilot.
The system operates as follows:
• Read the altitude in meters from a sensor (as a floating-point number).
• Convert the altitude from meters to feet using the conversion factor: 1
meter = 3.28084 feet.
• Display the converted altitude in feet to the pilot.

1.3.3 Airspeed Calculator

Create a program that calculates the true airspeed (TAS) of an airplane based
on the indicated airspeed (IAS) and altitude. The user should input IAS in
knots and altitude in feet. Use the following formula:
r
T0 + 273.15
T AS = IAS ×
T + 273.15
Where:

• T0 is the standard sea-level temperature (in Celsius).

• T is the temperature at the given altitude (in Celsius).

You can assume standard values for T0 and the temperature lapse rate. After
calculating TAS, display it to the user.

1.3.4 Mach Number Calculator

Design a program that calculates the Mach number of an aircraft based on its
TAS and the speed of sound at the given altitude. The user should input TAS
(in meters per second) and altitude (in meters). Use the following formula:
T AS
M ach = √
γ.R.T
Where:

• γ is the specific heat ratio (assumed to be constant).

• R is the specific gas constant for dry air.
CHAPTER 1. BASIC INPUT/OUTPUT AND MATH 5

• T is the temperature in Kelvin at the given altitude.

Calculate the Mach number and display it to the user.

1.3.5 Range and Endurance Calculator

Create a program that calculates the range and endurance of an aircraft based
on its fuel consumption rate and speed. The user should input fuel consumption
rate (in liters per hour), speed (in knots), and the amount of fuel on board (in
liters). Use the following formulas:
Fuel on board
Range = × Speed
Fuel consumption rate
and
Fuel on board
Endurance =
Fuel consumption rate
After calculating the range and endurance, display both values to the user.

1.3.6 Glide Ratio Calculator

Create a program that calculates the glide ratio of an aircraft based on its
altitude loss and horizontal distance traveled during a glide. The user should
input the altitude loss (in meters) and the horizontal distance (in meters). Use
the following formula:
HorizontalDistance
Glide Ratio =
AltitudeLoss

After calculating the glide ratio, display it to the user.

1.3.7 Calculate time dilation

Calculate the time an astronaut experiences in space. The time dilation factor
is calculated by
1
time dilation factor = p
1 − ( vc )2
where v is the velocity of the astronaut vessel, c is the speed of light, 3∗108 (3e8)
m/s. The time experienced by an astronaut is given by

time astronaut = time/time dilation factor

all given in years. Given the velocity of a spaceship and a number of years,
calculate the number of years experienced by the astronaut.

Examples: (Follow exactly the same message format)

CHAPTER 1. BASIC INPUT/OUTPUT AND MATH 6

Input velocity(m/s): 10
Input number of years: 7
The number of years experienced by the astronaut is: 6.999999999999996

Input velocity(m/s): 2.98e8

Input number of years: 5
The number of years experienced by the astronaut is: 0.5763872155263555

Input velocity(m/s): 2e6

Input number of years: 10
The number of years experienced by the astronaut is: 9.999777775308587
Chapter 2

The numpy, random

2.1 The numpy package

2.1.1 Constants
Write programs to

1. Print the constant π.

2. Write a program that calculates the area of a circle based on the radius
provided by the user. Display the result with two decimal places.
3. Print the constant e

2.1.2 Trigonometric functions

Write programs to:
1. Convert a number from degrees to radians;

2. Convert radians to degrees;

3. Calculate the cos(), sin() tan() of a certain angle in degrees;
4. Calculate the arc length of a circle sector: radius∗angle radians. Observe
that the perimeter of a circle is a particular case of this function.

5. Convert Cartesian coordinates to polar coordinates: (x, y) → rcos(θ),

where r = |k(x, y)|k and θ = arctan2(y, x) and comes in degrees.
6. Given the cos of a first angle in radians, the sin of an second angle in
radians and the cos of the difference between these two angles, determine
the sign of the first angle;

7. Calculate the area between two given points of the cos function. Remem-
d
ber that dx sin(x) = cos(x).

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CHAPTER 2. THE NUMPY, RANDOM 8

2.1.3 Numerical functions

Write programs to

1. Calculate the logarithm in base 2 of a given number;

2. Calculate the logarithm in base 10 of a given number;

3. Calculate the exponential of a given number;
4. Calculate the exponential - 1 of a given number;
5. Calculate the greatest common divisor of two given numbers, n and m.

6. Calculate the least common multiple between two numbers, n and m

7. Calculate the factorial of a given number.

2.1.4 Rounding
Using the numpy package, write programs to:

1. Round a number to a specific number of decimals;

2. Round to the immediately lower integer;
3. Round the immediately upper integer;
4. Just takes off the decimal part of a number.

2.2 The random package

Devise programs to:

1. Simulate a coin flip;

2. Simulate a dice roll (possible values 1-6);

3. Simulate a euro millions number key;

4. Simulate a Russian roulette game.
5. Shuffle a collection of items, for instance, movies or music names.

2.3 All
1. Consider that the launch of space ship is conditioned by the weather
conditions and the mechanical conditions, both subject to random
oscillations. Implement a program that:

• Reads an interval of two integers from the user, regarding the me-
chanical conditions;
CHAPTER 2. THE NUMPY, RANDOM 9

• Generate a random real number using an uniform distribution from

that interval. Divide the difference between the number obtained
and the start of the interval, divide for the interval length and that
will give you the probability of mechanical failures.
• Generate a random number for the wind speed (between 0 and 200).
• If the mechanical conditions are below 50% and the wind is between
20 and 80, authorize the launch, by displaying a message (Flight
authorized: (True/False))) (no if statements).

2. Implement a fortune cookie app, that shows a random portuguese saying

to the user.

3. Calculate the trajectory of a object after a time t considering that there

maybe an obstacle in its way:
• The object is just a point;
• Consider that the object is at position (0,0) at time 0, and it there is
no acceleration and the object moves at constant speed. The object
is launched with an initial angle θ, between 0 and 90. Both the
speed and the initial angle are given by the user.
• The position formula reads as
(a) px = v ∗ sin(θ) ∗ t
(b) py = v ∗ cos(θ) ∗ t
• The obstacle is another point.
• Determine if there will be a collision and the exit angles for the object
(180-θ).
CHAPTER 2. THE NUMPY, RANDOM 10

4. Considere o seguinte programa para calcular a distância a que um projéctil,

lançando com um ângulo inicial ”angulo” e uma velocidade v, fica quando
cai no chão, a um alvo também ele pousado no chão:
1 from numpy import sin , cos , deg2rad
2

3 # Funcao que calcula a distancia entre dois pontos

4 def distancia ( x1 , y1 , x2 , y2 ) :
5 a)
6

7 # Funcao que calcula a posicao no eixo x para um dado t .

8 def calcula_x_dado_t (v , t , theta ) :
9 b)
10

11 # Funcao que calcula a posicao no eixo y para um dado t .

12 def calcula_y_dado_t (v , t , theta ) :
13 return t * v * sin ( theta ) - (1/2) * g *( t **2)
14

15 # Funcao que calcula o t para a queda do objecto ( y =0)

16 def r e s o l v e _ t _ p a r a _ y _ i g u a l _ a _ z e r o (v , g , theta ) :
17 c ) # ( por exemplo , utilize a formula resolvente )
18

19 # Funcao que calcula o t para uma posicao x

20 def resolve_t_dado_x (v , theta , x ) :
21 return x /( v * cos ( theta ) )
22

23 g = 9.81 # Constante da gravidade

24 x_do_alvo = 100 # Posicao do alvo ( pousado no chao )
25

26 # leitura dos dados

27 v = d)
28 angulo = d )
29

30 t = r e s o l v e _ t _ p a r a _ y _ i g u a l _ a _ z e r o (v , g , angulo )
31 x_queda = calcula_x_dado_t (v , t , angulo )
32 dist = distancia ( x_queda , 0 , x_do_alvo , 0)
33

34 print ( " O projectil aterrara a " , round ( dist , 2) , " m do

alvo ! " )

A equação da trajectória para o eixo x é (i.e. θ = angulo):

1
xt = v.cos(θ).t; yt = v.sin(θ).t − .g.t2
2
Implemente:

(a) A função de distância (0.25v);

(b) A função calcula x dado t (0.25v);
(c) A função resolve t para y igual a zero (0.25v)
(d) A leitura dos dados na forma: ”Escreva velocidade (m/s): ” e ”Es-
creva o angulo em graus: ” (0.25v).
Chapter 3

If statements

1. Implement a day of the week program: given a number 1 to 7, determine

what is the correspondent day of the week;
2. Implement a small calculator: given two numbers and a possible operation:
’+’, ’-’, ’*’, ’/’, return the numbers and the operation;

3. Implement a ’Rock’, ’Paper’, ’Scissors’ game: ask the user for his play,
generate a random item from the collection, see who wins!
4. Implement a program to calculate the body-mass index, given user’s height
and weight in meters and kilograms respectively. Index is calculated as
weight/(height2 ). The conclusions shall be as follows:
• 18.5 to 24.9 - Healthy;
• 25 to 29.9 - Overweight;
• Over 30 - Obese.

5. Leap year checker. A leap is characterized by being divisible by four, but

not 100 unless it is also divisible by 400.
6. Implement a triangle type checker that is able to, given three points is
able to tell whether the triangle is scalene, isosceles or equilateral.
7. Implement a program to sort four numbers.

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Chapter 4

Recursivity

1. Implement a program to calculate the factorial.

2. Implement a program to calculate the fibonacci function.
3. Implement a program to count the number of digits of a number, using a
recursive function
• You can also calculate the number of digits in the decimal base
through:
int(ceiling(log10 (number))).
4. Implement a program to count the number of times a specific digit appears
in a given number.
5. Implement a program to return the most significant digit of a number.
6. Calculate the number of odd numbers, divisible by 3 between an interval,
using a recursive function
7. Implement a program to count the number of leap years between two
years, using recursive functions.
8. Implement a program to invert the digits of a number, in decimal, using a
recursive function. (you can use the functions developed in 1)) [HARD]
9. Implement a program to calculate the greatest common divisor, using a
recursive function. The recursive function can be implmented based in
the following laws:
(a) MDC (x, y) = MDC (x-y, y) se x>y;
(b) MDC (x,y) = MDC (y,x)
(c) MDC (x,x) = x
10. Implement a program to calculate the combinations function, which can
be obtained recursively using the following relations:
C(n, k) = C(n − 1, k − 1) + C(n − 1, k)

With the base cases:

C(n, 0) = 1 and C(n, n) = 1

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Chapter 5

While and for instructions

Implement programs to:

1. calculate the factorial of a number (without using numpy);
2. calculate the nth number of the fibonacci sequence;

3. generate and show a multiplication table asked by the user, or all of them.
4. implement a count down number;
5. play a guessing number game: generate a random number and give feed-
back to the user until it is guessed right. Give him the option to continue
or quit and count the number of attempts it took to guess the right num-
ber.
6. Reverse the digits of a number.
7. Collatz Sequence Length: Given a number, apply the following rules
until the number becomes 1:

• If the number is even, divide it by 2.

• If the number is odd, multiply it by 3 and add 1.
• Count how many steps it takes to reach 1 and display the count.
8. Prime Finder: Write a program that asks the user for a number and
determines if it’s prime or not.
9. Calculate the constant e, which is given by the following formula:
X 1
e=
k!
0≤k<∞

10. Make a program to calculate the function arctan, given by the following
formula:
∞ n
x XY 2kx2
arctan(x) =
1 + x2 n=0 (2k + 1)(1 + x2 )
k=1

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CHAPTER 5. WHILE AND FOR INSTRUCTIONS 14

11. Lunar Landing Simulation: You’re tasked with simulating a lunar

lander’s descent onto the Moon’s surface. The spacecraft starts at an
altitude h with a vertical speed v. The Moon’s gravitational acceleration
is 1.625m/s2 . Your lunar module has a throttle that can provide thrust
to decelerate at varying rates between 0m/s2 and 4m/s2 . The goal is to
ensure a soft landing, meaning your final vertical speed should be less than
2m/s when altitude is 0. Write a program that simulates this descent in
time intervals of 1 second. At each interval, the program should prompt
the user for the amount of thrust to apply (between 0 and 4). Display
the altitude and velocity at each interval. The simulation ends when the
lunar module lands.
Chapter 6

Tuples, Lists

6.1 Tuples
Write programs to:

1. Tuple creation: Create a tuple with elements of different data types and
print the type of each element.

2. Tuple Indexing: Given a tuple, print its first and last element;
3. Check if an element exists in a tuple;
4. Count the existence of an element in a tuple;
5. Find the Outlier: In a tuple of numbers, there’s one strange number (or
vice versa). Find it and returns this number.

6.2 Lists
1. (Basic lists)

(a) Create an empty list

(b) Make a function that returns the head (first element) and the tail
(the remaining elements of a list);
(c) Concatenate three lists;
(d) Split a list of elements in half, and exchange the first half to the end
of the list and the second half to the beggining of the list, i.e. second
half becomes first and the first one becomes second;
(e) Implement a swap function to exchange two elements of a list.
2. (Standard list functions)
Without using the standard list functions and trying to implement
both recursive and non-recursive solutions, write programs to mimic:

(a) The len (list) fuction, that counts the number of elements on a list;

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CHAPTER 6. TUPLES, LISTS 16

(b) The pop (element, list) fuction (eliminates an element on given

position of a list and returns the element);
(c) The append (element, list) function (adds an element at the end
of the list);
(d) The remove (element, list) function (eliminates a specific element
of the list);
(e) The insert at (element, list) function (inserts an element at a
specific position of the list) ;
(f) The count (element, list) function (counts the number of instances
of the element at a list);

3. (Linear list iteration)

(a) Given a list of numbers, sum the elements of the list and calculate
the average and return both results;
(b) Find the minimum and maximum element of a list;
(c) Find the median of a list (if the length of the list is even, return the
average of its central elements);
(d) Given a list with numbers, create another list with just the even ones;
(e) Reverse a list;
(f) Determine if a list is a palindrome;
(g) Instersect two lists. Given two lists l and h, implement a program to
discover the common elements between them.
(h) List sorting: sort the elements of a list in ascending order;
(i) Triplicate the repeated elements of a list;
(j) Rotate to the right every element of a list: the first one becomes
second, the second becomes third, etc. Also, the last one becomes
first.
(k) Partition a list based on a pivot: return the list of elements left of the
pivot and the list of elements right to the pivot. The list [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
shall yield [1, 2] and [4, 5] for the pivot 3.
4. (Quadratic list iteration)
Make programs (using recursivity or not) to:
(a) Eliminate the repeated elements of a list, leaving just one instance
of each element;
(b) Sort a list without using the sort method, using the Bubble sort
algorithm:
• Starting in the first item of the list, swap with the next one if it
is bigger. Do this for N items on the list
• Decrease N and redo the previous step (every time the process is
repeated the last element of previous iteration is left out of the
process).
(c) Eliminate the repeated elements of a list, leaving at most two in-
stances of each element;
CHAPTER 6. TUPLES, LISTS 17

5. Complex list problems

(a) Return the k-lowest elements of a list
(b) Generate tuples with all the combinations with three elements of a
list (modulo permutations);
(c) Rotate elements of a list to the left k positions.
(d) Give a list of tuples representing intervals, e.g. [(1, 3), (2, 6), (8, 10), (15, 18)],
return a list with the insersected intervals, e.g. [(1, 6), (8, 10), (15, 18)]

6.3 Strings
Make programs to:

1. (About individual character processing):

(a) Count the vowels in a string;
(b) Duplicate the vowels in a string;
(c) Count the number of spaces existent on a string;
(d) Eliminate all numeric characters;
(e) Switch the capitalization of individual characters.
2. (About words)

(a) Count the number of words in a given text;

(b) Calculate the most and less frequent word in a string;
(c) Count the number of strings in a text, i.e. the words that do not
contain only numbers;
(d) Find the largest word in a text;
(e) Print the list of words that contain a certain substring;
(f) Print the list of words that start with a certain letter.
3. (About find and replace)

(a) Replace a specific substring by another in a string;

(b) Find all instances of a specific string in a text;
4. Write the translation of a number into its representation in the Roman
numerical system (numbers until 2999)
• I - 1; V - 5; X - 10; L - 50; C - 100; D - 500; M - 1000
Chapter 7

Sets and Dictionaries

7.1 Dictionaries
Implement programs to

1. Create a dictionary. Add, change and remove values for a given key.
2. Eliminate repeated elements from a list;

3. Count the number of pairs of elements in a given list;

4. manage the grades of a set of students, i.e. a dictionary of dictionaries,
where the keys are students for the first dictionary, and values another
dictionary with the grades.
Implement actions to:
• Calculate the average grades for a student;
• Calculate the average grade on a given course.
5. A phonebook application. Use a dictionary, where keys are user names
and values are phone numbers. Implement functions to add, remove and
update users.
6. To count word frequency in a text.
7. Make username-password verification. The dictionary will hold a series of
key value pairs, where keys are users and values are passwords.

8. Partially translate phrases in portuguese to english by the use of the fol-

lowing dictionary:
1 por tugu ese_ to_en glis h = {
2 " casa " : " house " ,
3 " gato " : " cat " ,
4 " cachorro " : " dog " ,
5 " banana " : " banana " ,
6 " amigo " : " friend " ,
7 " livro " : " book " ,
8 " computador " : " computer " ,

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CHAPTER 7. SETS AND DICTIONARIES 19

9 " sol " : " sun " ,

10 " lua " : " moon "
11 }

7.2 Sets
Implement programs to:

1. Given two lists, for example [12, 13, 14, 14, 15, 16, 16], and [12, 13, 14], make
the following actions (use sets):
• Discover the elements that belong to both lists;
• Calculate the elements that are not common to both lists;
• Determine whether a set is superset or subset of another one.
2. Obtain the repeated elements of a list;
3. Given a large set of elements, build disjoint sets for each of equivalence
classes of those elements defined by the modulo operation. Example, two
elements, x, y are of the same class of equivalence if x%n == y%n.
4. ”The friend of my friend, my friend is”. Given a dictionary, where keys and
individuals and values are lists of friends, identify communities, disjoint
sets of friends of friends.