Objectives

• Understand standard methods of solution including:

• Linear search
• Bubble sort
• Totalling
• Counting
• Finding maximum, minimum and average values

• Explain the purpose of a given algorithm including:

• Stating the purpose of an algorithm
• Describing the processes involved in an algorithm
Standard Algorithms
Unit 8 Algorithm design and problem solving

Starter
• A sushi restaurant carries sushi to customers via a
conveyor belt
• An infra-red sensor detects if a sushi leaves the kitchen
• Each item also has a price detected by a barcode scanner
• What is an algorithm to count the number of sushi that
have passed?
• What is an algorithm to find the most expensive sushi?
Standard Algorithms
Unit 8 Algorithm design and problem solving

Starter
Counting sushi Most expensive sushi
Count  0 Max  0
REPEAT REPEAT
IF SushiDetected IF SushiDetected
THEN THEN
Count  Count + 1 INPUT Price
ENDIF IF Price > Max
UNTIL ConveyorStops THEN
Max  Price
ENDIF
ENDIF
UNTIL ConveyorStops
Standard Algorithms
Unit 8 Algorithm design and problem solving

Counting
• Counting is one of the simplest algorithms
to understand
• What does the following algorithm do?
1 FOR i  1 TO 10
2 OUTPUT i
3 NEXT i

• How could you count in twos (even numbers only)?

Standard Algorithms
Unit 8 Algorithm design and problem solving

Counting
• What does the following algorithm do?
1 FOR i  1 TO 10
2 OUTPUT I
3 NEXT i
The algorithm will output: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
• How could you count in twos (even numbers only)?
1 FOR i  2 TO 10 STEP 2
2 OUTPUT I
3 NEXT i
This outputs: 2 4 6 8 10
• Notice that when we count, we need a variable to store the
counter in. In this case, i is used (it’s known as the iterator)
• Compare this algorithm to the counting algorithm that was
used as the starter answer
Standard Algorithms
Unit 8 Algorithm design and problem solving

Totalling, minimum and average

• For the sushi conveyor, how could you find the
following for all sushi?
• The total cost of all sushi on The algorithm to count the
number of sushi was:
the conveyor
Count  0
• The average price of the items REPEAT
on the conveyor IF SushiDetected
THEN
• The cheapest item on the conveyor Count  Count +
1
ENDIF
UNTIL ConveyorStops
Standard Algorithms
Unit 8 Algorithm design and problem solving

Totalling, minimum and average

Total Average Cheapest
Total  0 Total  0 Min  0
WHILE SushiDetected Count  0 First  TRUE
INPUT Price WHILE SushiDetected WHILE SushiDetected
Total  Total INPUT Price INPUT Price
+ Price Total  Total IF First
ENDWHILE + Price THEN
Count  Count Min  Price
+ 1 ELSE
ENDWHILE First  FALSE
Average  Total / IF Price < Min
Count THEN
Min  Price
ENDIF
ENDIF
ENDWHILE
Standard Algorithms
Unit 8 Algorithm design and problem solving

Worksheet 4
• Complete Task 1 and Task 2 on Worksheet 4
Standard Algorithms
Unit 8 Algorithm design and problem solving

Linear search
• If the list to be searched is not sorted, it is not
possible to do a binary search
• A linear search may be carried out instead

145 27 83 777 492 588 91 678 399 123

• Items are examined in the sequence

145, 27, 83, 777….
Standard Algorithms
Unit 8 Algorithm design and problem solving

A search algorithm
1 Numbers  [5,1,9,8,7,6,4,10]
2 USERINPUT SearchItem
3 FOR i  1 TO LENGTH(Numbers)
4 IF Numbers[i]  SearchItem
5 THEN
6 OUTPUT "SearchItem found"
7 ENDIF
8 ENDFOR
• The above algorithm asks the user to input a number
and then searches for it in the array numbers
• What is the value of LENGTH(numbers) – 1 ?
• When will "SearchItem found" be output?
• Name the type of search algorithm
Standard Algorithms
Unit 8 Algorithm design and problem solving

A search algorithm
1 Numbers  [5,1,9,8,7,6,4,10]
2 USERINPUT SearchItem
3 FOR i  1 TO LENGTH(Numbers)
4 IF Numbers[i]  SearchItem
5 THEN
6 OUTPUT "SearchItem found"
7 ENDIF
8 ENDFOR
• The above algorithm asks the user to input a number
and then searches for it in the array numbers
• What is the value of LENGTH(numbers) – 1 ? 8
• When will "SearchItem found" be output?
Each time it finds a matching item in the array
• Name the type of search algorithm
Linear search
Standard Algorithms
Unit 8 Algorithm design and problem solving

Sorting
• Both people and computers often need data to be
sorted
• Give five types of data that
people need to be sorted
• Give one reason why a
computer would work
more efficiently if a
list was sorted
Standard Algorithms
Unit 8 Algorithm design and problem solving

Sorting
• Types of data that people need sorted
• Index cards/records of customer details
• Directories and dictionaries
• House numbers
• Library books
• Stock in a warehouse
• and many more…
• Reasons why a computer will work more efficiently
with sorted lists
• Computers can use a binary search with sorted lists which is
far more efficient than a linear search – you don’t need to
know the binary search algorithm for IGCSE
Standard Algorithms
Unit 8 Algorithm design and problem solving

Sorting
• Data sets frequently need to be sorted
Rank Name Count Rank Name Count
• Look at the two
data sets of the 1 Oliver 5 390 1 Olivia 4 598
top 10 boys and 2 George 4 960 2 Amelia 3 941
girls names 3 Harry 4 512 3 Ava 3 110

• What other orders 4 Noah 4 107 4 Isla 3 046

could they 5 Jack 3 988 5 Emily 2 676
be sorted in? 6 Leo 3 721 6 Mia 2 490

• Why might you 7 Arthur 3 644 7 Isabella 2 369

need to sort the 8 Muhammad 3 507 8 Sophia 2 344
data sets? 9 Oscar 3 459 9 Ella 2 326

10 Charlie 3 365 10 Grace 2 301

Source: ONS
Standard Algorithms
Unit 8 Algorithm design and problem solving

Sorting
• The data sets could be sorted as follows:
• Count order (which will be the same as the rank order)
• Alphabetical order
• Reverse alphabetical or count order

• The girls and boys data sets could be combined to

show the top 20 names in England and Wales
• Again these could be sorted by count or name
Standard Algorithms
Unit 8 Algorithm design and problem solving

The bubble sort

• Start with the leftmost item
• Compare this item with the one next to it
• If the one next to it is less, swap the items
• Repeat for all the other items
• At the end of one pass through the list, the largest item is at
the end of the list
• Repeat the process until the items are sorted
• Suppose you have a list of numbers to be sorted:

9 5 4 15 3 8 11 2
Standard Algorithms
Unit 8 Algorithm design and problem solving

Bubble sort – First pass

9 5 4 15 3 8 11 2 • Each item is compared
5 9 4 15 3 8 11 2 with the one on its right,
and swapped if it is
5 4 9 15 3 8 11 2
larger
5 4 9 15 3 8 11 2
• At the end of the first
5 4 9 3 15 8 11 2 pass the largest item
5 4 9 3 8 15 11 2 bubbles through to the
end of the list
5 4 9 3 8 11 15 2
• (Orange indicates
5 4 9 3 8 11 2 15
sorted items)
Standard Algorithms
Unit 8 Algorithm design and problem solving

First pass Second pass

9 5 4 15 3 8 11 2 5 4 9 3 8 11 2 15

5 9 4 15 3 8 11 2 4 5 9 3 8 11 2 15

5 4 9 15 3 8 11 2 4 5 9 3 8 11 2 15

5 4 9 15 3 8 11 2 4 5 3 9 8 11 2 15

5 4 9 3 15 8 11 2 4 5 3 8 9 11 2 15

5 4 9 3 8 15 11 2 4 5 3 8 9 11 2 15

5 4 9 3 8 11 15 2 4 5 3 8 9 2 11 15

5 4 9 3 8 11 2 15
Standard Algorithms
Unit 8 Algorithm design and problem solving

Second pass Third pass

5 4 9 3 8 11 2 15 4 5 3 8 9 2 11 15

4 5 9 3 8 11 2 15 4 5 3 8 9 2 11 15

4 5 9 3 8 11 2 15 4 3 5 8 9 2 11 15

4 5 3 9 8 11 2 15 4 3 5 8 9 2 11 15

4 5 3 8 9 11 2 15 4 3 5 8 9 2 11 15

4 5 3 8 9 11 2 15 4 3 5 8 2 9 11 15

4 5 3 8 9 2 11 15
Standard Algorithms
Unit 8 Algorithm design and problem solving

Third pass Fourth pass

4 5 3 8 9 2 11 15 3 4 5 8 2 9 11 15

4 5 3 8 9 2 11 15 3 4 5 8 2 9 11 15

4 3 5 8 9 2 11 15 3 4 5 8 2 9 11 15

4 3 5 8 9 2 11 15 3 4 5 8 2 9 11 15

4 3 5 8 9 2 11 15 3 4 5 2 8 9 11 15

4 3 5 8 2 9 11 15
Standard Algorithms
Unit 8 Algorithm design and problem solving

Fourth pass Fifth pass

3 4 5 8 2 9 11 15 3 4 5 2 8 9 11 15

3 4 5 8 2 9 11 15 3 4 5 2 8 9 11 15

3 4 5 8 2 9 11 15 3 4 5 2 8 9 11 15

3 4 5 8 2 9 11 15 3 4 2 5 8 9 11 15

3 4 5 2 8 9 11 15
Standard Algorithms
Unit 8 Algorithm design and problem solving

Fifth pass Sixth pass

3 4 5 2 8 9 11 15 3 4 2 5 8 9 11 15

3 4 5 2 8 9 11 15 3 4 2 5 8 9 11 15

3 4 5 2 8 9 11 15 3 2 4 5 8 9 11 15

3 4 2 5 8 9 11 15

Sixth pass Seventh pass

3 4 2 5 8 9 11 15 3 2 4 5 8 9 11 15

3 4 2 5 8 9 11 15 2 3 4 5 8 9 11 15

3 2 4 5 8 9 11 15 Seven passes through the list of eight

numbers ensures that they are sorted
Standard Algorithms
Unit 8 Algorithm design and problem solving

Worksheet 4
• Complete Task 3, Task 4 and Task 5
on Worksheet 4
Standard Algorithms
Unit 8 Algorithm design and problem solving

Plenary
• A user enters the following numbers:
• 9, 17, 3, 5, 29

• Work in pairs to describe an algorithm to find:

• the largest number
• the average of the numbers
Standard Algorithms
Unit 8 Algorithm design and problem solving

Plenary
• A user enters the following numbers:
• 9, 17, 3, 5, 29

Largest number algorithm Average algorithm

Largest  0 NumberOfItems  0
WHILE MoreNumbers DO Total  0
INPUT Num WHILE MoreNumbers DO
IF Num > Largest INPUT Num
THEN Total  Total + Num
Largest  Num NumberOfItems  NumberOfItems +
ENDIF 1
ENDWHILE ENDWHILE
Average  Total / NumberOfItems
Standard Algorithms
Unit 8 Algorithm design and problem solving

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