CHAPTER THREE

Pseudocode

OBJECTIVES
Upon completion of this chapter, you should be able to:

Define the term pseudocode.

Know advantages and disadvantages of pseudocode.

Use the rules and constraints associated with pseudocode.

Solve word problems using pseudocode.

3.1 Introduction
Pseudocode is statements written in abbreviated form to show the
steps required to solve a specific problem.

Pseudocode means "false code". That

means that it is not the programming
language "code" or statements that are used
to direct the action of the computer. After
writing the Pseudocode it is very easy to
translate these statements into computer
programming language instructions that can
direct the action of the computer.

There are no special symbols with special meaning (such as flowcharting)

that have to be memorized. Its rules and constraints are few, flexible, and
easy to understand.

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3.2 Components
The best way to illustrate the pseudocode components is to provide
a sample. Figure 3.1 shows a part of the flowchart of problem 8 in chapter
2, where HW means Hours worked, OP means Overtime Pay, PR means
Pay Rate, , and GP means Gross Pay. The corresponding pseudocode is
shown in Figure 3.2.

Figure 3.1 A Part of flowchart solution for problem 2.٨.

1. If hours worked is greater than 150 Then

Calculate Overtime Pay = (Hours Worked – 150) * 1.5 * (Pay Rate)

Calculate Gross Pay = 150 * (Pay Rate) + Overtime Pay
Else
Calculate Gross Pay = (Pay Rate) * (Hours Worked)

2. Calculate TAX = 0.20 * (Gross Pay)

Figure 3.2 Pseudocode corresponding to Figure 3.1.

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Which means that if hours worked > 150, you have to execute
the following two statements :
Calculate Overtime Pay = (Hours Worked – 150) * 1.5 * (Pay
( Rate)
Calculate Gross Pay = 150 * (Pay Rate) + Overtime Pay

Followed by the following statement :

Calculate TAX = 0.20 * (Gross Pay)

Where if the hours worked ≤ 150, you have to execute the following
statement :
Calculate Gross Pay = (Pay Rate) * (Hours Worked)

Followed by the following statement :

Calculate TAX = 0.20 * (Gross Pay)
This shows that the only components used to
write a pseudocode are
1. Words
2. Clauses
3. Sentences
These components and easiness
eas of use make
pseudocode so attractive.

3.3 Rules and Constraints

1. The data names of variables being used to solve the

problem should describe what the variable represents.

2. All statements should be written in a way that is

easy to understand.

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3.4 Program Logic Structures

A program is consisting of a number of structures. The most important

structures are as follows:

3.4.1. Sequence

In pseudo coding, statements are done in sequential fashion unless

one of the statements contains an instruction that interrupts the normal
sequential flow.

3.4.2. Selection
The pseudocode shown in Figure 3.٣ represents how we can code
the selection control structure. In this case an IF statement is presented.
There can be only two outcomes as a result of the IF statement being
processed. One as a result of the tested condition being TRUE and the
other as being FALSE. Therefore the IF-THEN-ELSE control structure
can be represented as follows :

IF condition being tested is TRUE

Then
Do all statements listed under “Then”.
(executed when the tested condition is “TRUE”).
Else
Do all statements listed under “Else”.
(executed when the tested condition is “FALSE”).

Figure 3.3 IF-THEN-ELSE control structure.

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 The tested condition can be greater than(>), less than,(<)
equal to(=), greater or equal to(>=), less than or equal to(<=),
or not equal to . The result of testing the condition must be
TRUE or FALSE.
For example:

M= 25
N = 12
IF ( M >= N ) Then
Statement 1
Else
Statement2
END IF
Statement 3

Note that in this case Statement 1, followed by Statement 3 will be

executed.
Note that if the tested condition was just an expression the result of
which was a number, then only the value of zero will represent FALSE,
where all other values will represent TRUE.
For example

X= 10
Y=5
IF (X – Y) Then
Statement 1
Else
Statement2
END IF

Statement3

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 In this case Statement 1 followed by Statement3 will be
executed because X – Y is positive, this means that the
corresponding logic value is considered True.

When the code is given as follows :

X= 10
Y = 10
IF (X – Y) Then
Statement 1
Else
Statement2
END IF

Statement3

In this case Statement2 followed by Statement3 will be executed because

X – Y is zero, this means that the corresponding logic value is considered False.

3.4.2. Iterations
This statement implies that a certain activity or action will be
performed repetitively a certain number of times or until a certain
condition is met. Figure 3.4 shows a part of the flowchart of problem 6 in
chapter 2, where Sum is the sum of series, T is the value of the current
term, and N is the current number of terms. The corresponding
pseudocode is shown in figure 3.5, where statement

Perform steps 3 through 4 until T is less than 0.01

Shows the iteration control structure under pseudocode for the given
problem. Here statements 3 and 4 are repeated until T is less than 0.01.

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 Figure 3.4 A Part of flowchart solution for problem 2.6.

1. Initialize the Sum:

Sum = 0
2. Initialize the number of terms N, then find the corresponding
term T:
N=1
T = 1/N
3. Add the new term to Sum:
Sum = Sum + T
4. Increment the number of terms N, then find the
corresponding term T:
5. IF T<0.01 Then
Go to step 6
Else
Perform steps 3 through 4 until T is less than 0.01
END IF
6. Stop processing

Figure 3.5 Pseudocode corresponding to figure 3.4.

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3.5 Advantages and disadvantages of Pseudocode

Some of advantages of pseudocode are :

• It is simple because it uses English-like statements.
• No special symbols are used.
• No specific syntax is used.
• It is very easy to translate its statements to that for high level
languages on a one-for-one basis.

The main disadvantages of pseudocode is that :

• It can be quite lengthy for complex problems.

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3.6 SOME EXAMPLES ON PSEUDOCODING

Example 3-1

Write a pseudocode to represent the process of reading two numbers,

dividing them, and then displaying the result.

Note that: the corresponding flowchart is given in example 2.3.

Solution:

1. Input (Read) the first number “number1”.

2. Input (Read) the second number “number2”.
3. IF the value of number1 = that of number2 Then
Print “Division is impossible because number2 is zero”
Go to step 4
ELSE
result = number1 / number2
Print number1, number2, and result
END IF
4. Stop processing.

Figure 3.6 Pseudocode corresponding to example 3.1.

Note that in the given pseudocode, after first printing statement ,

we jump to label 4 to terminate the program.

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Example 3-2
Write a pseudocode to find the sum of first 100 natural numbers.
This means that you want to find Sum where Sum is given by
Sum = 1 + 2 + 3+...........................................+ 99 + 100

Note that: the corresponding flowchart is given in example 2.٤.

Solution:

1. Initialize the Sum:

Sum = 0
2. Initialize the term number N, which is the term itself:
N=0
3. Increment the term number:
N=N+1
4. Add the new term to Sum:
Sum = Sum + N
5. IF N= 100 Then
Go to step 6
Else
Perform steps 3 through 4 until N is equal to 100
END IF
6. Print an output line showing the sum of the first 100 terms of
the series
7. Stop processing

Figure 3.7 Pseudocode corresponding to example 3.2.

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You have to note that
N=N+1
iss not a mathematical expression, but it is an assignment statement. The
correct grammatical form ( syntax) of the assignment statement is given
by
VariableName = expression
which means that at first we calculate the value of the expression then
store it in the variable which name is written to the left of the equal sign.
Returning back to statement
N=N+1
this statement means add one to the contents of variable N, then store the
result into variable N, which means increment the value stored in variable
N. By the same way we can say that
Sum = Sum + N
means that add the current value of Sum to N, then store the result into
Sum.

Example 3-3
Write a pseudocode to find the sum of first 25 odd natural numbers.
numbers
This mean that we want to find Sum, where Sum is given by
Sum = 1 + 3 + 5 ……………………………………………………………here we
add 25 odd natural numbers.
numbers

Note that the corresponding flowchart is given

in example 2.٥.

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Solution:

1. Initialize the Sum:

Sum = 0
2. Initialize the number of terms N, and the first term T:
N=0
T=1
3. Add the new term to Sum:
Sum = Sum + T
4. Increment the number of terms by 1, and the term value
by 2:
N=N+1

T=T+2

5. IF N = 25 Then
Go to step 6
Else
Perform steps 3 through 4 until T is less than 0.01
END IF
6. Print an output line showing the sum of the first
25 odd terms of the series.
series
7. Stop processing.
processing

Figure 3.٨ Pseudocode corresponding to example 3.٣.

Example 3-4
Write a pseudocode to find the sum of all terms of the following
series greater than or equal to 0.01.

1 1 1 1

  1      …………………………
2 3 4 5

Note that the corresponding flowchart is given in example 2.٦.

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Solution:

1. Initialize the Sum:

Sum = 0
2. Initialize the number of terms N, then find the corresponding
term T:
N=1
T = 1/N
3. Add the new term to Sum:
Sum = Sum + T
4. Increment the number of terms N, then find the
corresponding term T:
N=N+1
T = 1/N
5. IF T<0.01 Then
Go to step 6
Figure 3.8 Pseudocode corresponding to problem 3.3.
Else
Perform steps 3 through 4 until T is less than 0.01
END IF
6. Print an output line showing the sum of all terms until we
reach a term which value is less than 0.01
7. Stop processing.

Figure 3.9 Pseudocode corresponding to example 3.4.

Example 3-5

Write a pseudocode to find the largest of three numbers A, B,

and C.

Note that the corresponding flowchart is given in example 2.7.

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Solution:

1. Input (Read) the values of three numbers A, B, and C

Initialize the Sum:
2. IF the value of A > that of B Then
Go to step 3
ELSE
Go to step 4
END IF

3. IF the value of A > that of C Then

Print “The maximum value is that of A”
Go to step 5
ELSE
Print “The maximum value is that of C”
Go to step 5
END IF

4. IF the value of B > that of C Then

Print “The maximum value is that of B”
Go to step 5
ELSE
Print “The maximum value is that of C”
END IF

5. Stop Processing

Figure 3.10 Pseudocode corresponding to example 3.5.

Note that in the given pseudocode, after each printing statement ,

we jump to label 5 to terminate processing except at the printing
statement just before the “Stop Processing” statement, because the Stop
Processing statement will be executed automatically for this printing
statement.
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 Example 3-6

Ahlia Company desires to generate its payroll via computer. The

information collected every payroll period includes the employee social
security number, pay rate, and hours worked. The payroll department
would like a report listing these items in addition to overtime pay, gross
pay, tax withheld (20% of gross pay), and net pay. Note that the
employee should be given overtime pay 1.5 of pay rate in case that he
worked a number of hours greater than 150 hours per month. Write a
pseudocode to process all employees and prints out Social Security
Number , Pay Rate, Hours Worked, Gross Pay, Tax, and Net Pay for
each employee.

Note that the corresponding flowchart is given in example 2.8.

Solution:
1. Input the employee’s payroll data:
• Social Security Number (SSN)
• Pay Rate (PR)
• Hours Worked (HW)

2. IF Hours Worked is greater than 150 Then

Overtime Pay = ((Hours Worked) – 150) * 1.5 * (Pay Rate)
Gross Pay = 150 * (Pay Rate) + (Overtime Pay)
ELSE
Gross Pay = (Pay Rate) * (Hours Worked)
END IF

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3. Tax = 0.20 * (Gross
Gross Pay)
Pay

4. Net Pay = (Gross Pay ) – TAX

5. Write report for the employee including the following items:

1. Social Security Number

2. Pay Rate
3. Hours Worked
4. Gross Pay
5. Tax
6. Net Pay
6. IF the employee is the last one Then
Go To Step 7
ELSE
Perform steps 1 though 5 until the last employee is processed
END IF

7. Stop Processing.

Figure 3.111 Pseudocode corresponding to example 3.66

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 Example 3-7

The manager of your company has requested a report from the

Personnel Department about all employees . The report should
include the following information:
1- The total number of males and females.
2- The number of employees by the following age categories:
a. Less than 20
b. 20-29
c. 30-39
d. 40-49
e. 50-60
f. Over 60
3- The total number of people who have been working for the
company for 10 years or more.

4- The total number of engineers.

Write down the needed pseudocode.

Note that the corresponding flowchart is given in example 2.9.

Solution:

1. Set all counters to zero:

Male_count = Female_count = over_60 = 50_60 = 40_49 = 0

30_39 = 20_29 = under_20 = 10_YR = ENG = 0

2. Input today’s date and store it in variable Today

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3. Input all data for a single employee:
• Birthday date
• Sex code
• Occupation code
• Date of employment
4. IF sex code is ‘Male’ Then
Male_count = Male_count + 1
ELSE
Female_count = Female_count + 1
END IF
5. Calculate the employee’s age:
Age = (Today’s date) – (Birthday date)
6. IF employee’s age greater than 60 Then
Over_60 = Over_60 + 1
Go to 12
END IF
7. IF employee’s age greater than 50 Then
50_60 = 50_60 + 1
Go to 12
END IF
8. IF employee’s age greater than 40 Then
40_49 = 40_49 + 1
Go to 12
END IF
9. IF employee’s age greater than 30 Then
30_39 = 30_39 + 1
Go to 12
END IF
10. IF employee’s age greater than 20 Then
20_29 = 20_29 + 1
Go to 12
END IF

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 11. IF employee’s age less than 20 Then
under_20 = under_20 + 1
END IF
12. Find the period of employment and store it in variable X:
X = Today – (Date of employment)
13. IF X is greater than or equal to 10 Then
10_Yr = 10_Yr + 1
END IF
14. IF occupation code = ‘ENG’ Then
ENG = ENG + 1
END IF
15. IF this is the last employee Then
Print a report showing all the needed statistics.
ELSE
Perform steps 3 through 14 until all employees are
processed.
END IF
16. Stop processing.

Figure 3.12 Pseudocode corresponding to example 3.7.

Note that Male_count, Female_count, 10_YR, and ENG are variables

used to store the number of males, females, employees who have been
working for the company for 10 years or more, and Engineers working
for the company.

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 Example 3-8

Write down a pseudocode to solve an equation of second order given

by:

       0

Given that its roots 

and  are given by

 √   4


,  … … … … … … … … … … … … . 3.1
2

where a, b, and c are real numbers. You have to take into

consideration the following:

2. If    4
 is negative , you have to say that we have

complex roots.
3. If    4
 is equal to zero the two roots are equal to –b/2a.
4. If (    4
) greater than zero the solution will given by
equation 3.1.

Note that the corresponding flowchart is given in example 2.10.

Solution

1. Input the values of a, b, and c.

2. Calculate y where y is given by:

    
3. IF y ≥ 0 Then
IF y > 0 Then
  √  
 

  √  
 


٥٥
 ELSE


 
 


END IF

ELSE
Print “The roots are complex.”
Go To Step 5

END IF

4. Print the values of
 

 .

5. Stop processing.

Figure 3.13 Pseudocode corresponding to example 3.8.

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3-7 Questions
Question 1:
Write a pseudocode for flowchart shown in Figure 3.14

Figure 3.14 Flowchart for problem 1.

Question 2:
Write a pseudocode to read the ages of Hany and Hesham , then it prints
the name of the elder. (The corresponding flowchart is the solution of
problem 2-2)

٥٧
Question 3:
Write a pseudocode that reads a temperature in Fahrenheit “°F” degrees
and convert it into Celsius “°C” degrees, using the formula


°
 ° 



(The corresponding flowchart is the solution of problem 2-3 )

Question 4:
Write a pseudocode that reads the radius of a sphere “r”, then it calculates
its volume “V” and surface area “A” using formulas

  

   

where




If the read radius is negative, the code should print a warning message
that states that the radius should be positive, and then terminates.

Question 5:
Write a pseudocode that reads number “x”, then it calculate the value of
function y using the formula
  
    … … … … … ..
 

Where we add 100 terms.

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