Week 2

Problem Solving Concepts

STIA1113 : Programming I
 Lecture Outlines
• Introduction to Problem Solving
• Types of Problems
• Problem Solving with Computers
• Difficulties with Problem Solving
Introduction
• The most important skill for a computer scientist is
problem-solving:
– the ability to formulate problems, think creatively
about solutions, and express a solution clearly and
accurately.
• Programming involves
– problem solving and
– translating the solutions into a computer program
using a programming language (a.k.a . coding)
• A programmer skill: thinking ability to produce the
solution and knowledge about the programming
language
Nature of problem
• A problem in computer science is the statement of
specifications that requires a solution

• Problem can be concrete or abstract

• Concrete : they have known values to use in making the
solution e.g.:
i) Compute the area of a circle when its radius is 5.5 cm
ii) Ali drove to Abu’s house at 60 km/h. Abu’s house is 80 km away.
Ali arrived at Abu’s house at 3:22 p.m. What time did Ali leave?.

• The solution is designed to solve a single specific problem

Nature of problem
• Abstract : they have no particular values to be
used in
making the solution e.g.:
i. Compute the area of a circle with a given radius
ii. Ali drove to Abu’s house at 60 km/h. Abu’s house
is 80 km away. What time should Ali leave if he
wants to arrive at a certain particular time?.
iii. Calculate the monthly payment for a given loan
amount with a specific loan duration and interest
rate.
• Requires an abstract/general solution which can
solve several problems when concrete
information is given.
Nature of problem

• Abstract problems are the more common

problem (we’ll focus more on solving abstract
problems)
• Abstract problems are the types that computer
scientists are faced with every day
Type of Problem Solutions
• Steps involved in following a set of
instructions.
- Ex. Calculating your checkbook balance
Algorithm • The solution will be the same each time the
Solution algorithm is followed.
• Most computers use
algorithmic types of problems.

• Solutions that can’t be reached by

following a direct set of steps. Created by
using reasoning built upon knowledge and
experience and by trial and error.
Heuristic • The results may not produce the same
Solutions results each time the algorithm is
executed.
• Artificial intelligence deals with heuristic
types of problems.
 Steps in Problem Solving in
FINIS
Everyday Life H

Identify the Identify Define the

problem alternative ways steps

1 3 5

2 4 6

Understand Select the Your text

the problem best way here

START
6 Steps in Problem Solving in
Everyday Life

1. Identify the problem.

– If you don’t know what the problem is, you
can’t create a solution for it.
– Ex. Calculate Payroll for 10 Employees
– Ex. Provide directions
 6 Steps in Problem Solving in
Everyday Life
2. Understand the problem.
– Must understand what is involved in
the problem before finding the
solution
– Perform
• Research - to form your own knowledge
base
• Observations by
– Watching current activity
– Reviewing past activities
• Ex. Giving instructions to someone
on how to find an address.
6 Steps in Problem Solving in
Everyday Life

3. Identify alternative ways to solve the

problem.
– Rarely does a problem have only one solution.
– Look at
• Efficiency
• Speed
• Accuracy Don’t just find one solution and stop there.
• Acceptability Rarely is it the best solution…especially for
novice programmers…
6 Steps in Problem Solving in
Everyday Life

4. Select the best way to solve the problem

from the list of alternative solutions.
– Establish criteria to help when performing
evaluations on each alternative
– Include pros and cons for each solution
– Select the best solution based
on the research
6 Steps in Problem Solving in
Everyday Life

5. Define the steps that enable you

to solve the problem using the
selected solution.
i. Create a numbered, step-by-step
set of instructions
ii. Instructions must be
included in the knowledge base…
So, what’s a knowledge base?
6 Steps in Problem Solving in
Everyday Life

6. Test the solution.

• Are the results accurate?
• Does it satisfy the needs of the
client?
• Is it acceptable to the client?
• Does the solution solve the
original problem?
Problem Solving with Computers

Definitions:
Solution  instructions followed to
produce best result (in step 5)
Result  outcome, computer-assisted
answer
Program  instructions for solution coded
using a computer language
Steps in Building a Program

01 Analyze the problem.

02 Develop an algorithm.
03 Write the program or coding.
04 Test/ debug the program.
 Steps in Building a Program
1. Analyze the problem
 Must clearly understand the problem,
 The analysis starts by answering these questions:
• What would be considered the input data?
• What would be considered the output information?
• What are the formulas/processes you have to create to solve this
solution?
• Are there any special conditions/constraints?
 Steps in Building a Program
2. Develop an algorithm

 Write the algorithm in pseudocode or flowchart

• need to identify the basic steps clearly and correctly based on
the findings from analysis
• typically, the steps follows a familiar pattern: input, processing
and output
 Verify the correctness, consistency and ambiguity of the
algorithm (hand trace the values of the variables in
every steps of your algorithm)
• hand tracing how the values of the variables are changing in
every steps of the algorithm
Steps in Building a Program
3. Coding

 Transform the proposed algorithm into coding by using a specific

programming language such as Java.
• Need to have knowledge in the programming language in terms of
the language syntax
• Can use IDEs such as Eclipse, NetBeans etc to facilitate the coding
tasks.
 Implement the program to the user environment such as Android.
 Steps in Building a Program
4. Test or debug the program.

 Test to verify that the program meets the requirements

by creating test cases
 Test can avoid bugs such as logic errors
 Program also need to be maintained by modifying it if
the problem domain or requirements changes or
problem arises
 Algorithm
 An algorithm is a clear step–by-step
sequence of instructions to solve a problem
 analogy: recipe (refer next slide)
 In mathematics and computing, an
algorithm is a procedure (a finite set of
well-defined instructions) for
accomplishing some task which, given an
initial state, will terminate in a defined
end-state. (source:Wikipedia)
Algorithm: Baking a Cake
 Algorithm
 comes from the 9th century Persian mathematician
Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi.

 2 ways to represent algorithm:

a) pseudo code
using English-like statements to list the steps to be
taken in the solution.
b) flowchart
using diagrams that employ symbols to describe the
workflow of steps involved in the solution.
 Pseudocode
• Pseudocode statements usually perform input, output, and
processing (eg. arithmetic operations)
• The input statements are to get data needed to perform
computation e.g.:
– Input student name, student mark
– Input length, width, height of a box
– Input loan amount, interest rate, loan duration
• The output statements are to display information for the user
e.g.:
– Output "Enter Student Name: "
– Output final grade
– Output "The volume of the box is ", theVolume
– Output "The loan montly payment = ", monthlyPayment
Pseudocode
• The processing statements are to perform computation
e.g.:
– priceAverage = (price1 +price2 + price3 + price4 +
price5) / 5
– theVolume = length x width x height
– BMI = weight / (height x height)
• These statements represent arithmetic assignment
statements. The right side of the statement is the
arithmetic expression using standard mathematical
notation.
• The left side is where the result of the computation is
stored for further processing.
Pseudocode to calculate the perimeter of a
rectangle

• Start
– Output "Enter rectangle length: "
– Input length
– Output "Enter rectangle width: "
– Input width
– Calculate perimeter = 2 x(length + width)
– Output perimeter
• End
Flowchart
• a graphical way of depicting a problem in terms of its
inputs, outputs, and processes.
• the basic elements are as follows:

– Rounded Rectangle (start/end of a program)

– Parallelogram (program input and output)

– Rectangle (processing)

– Diamond (decision)

– Arrow (execution flow)

Flowchart to calculate the perimeter of a
rectangle.

Start

Input length,
width

Perimeter = 2 x
(length + width)

Output
perimeter

Stop