Programming and Problem Solving

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Credit Points: 04
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Examination pattern
– 30 marks : In sem
– 70 marks : End Sem
– 25 marks: Practical
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Book:
– “Python programming using problem Solving
Approach” by Reema Thareja: Oxford University
 Importance of Subject

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Programming is basic need of an engineer
– Example: calculator basic need of accountant
– Importance of subject: In every stream it is needed
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Qualities of an engineering graduate
– Quick learner
– Problem understanding
– Decision making
– Soft skill
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Any Programing is a kind of problem solving
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Syllabus 1 unit

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Problem Solving, Programming and Python Programming
1. General Problem Solving concepts
2. Program planning Tool: algorithm, pseudo
code,flowchart
3. Python Introduction: features, variables, i/o, Expression

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Importance of text book while studying subjects
– No matter format of questions changes
– Execrcise questions appear in exam as it is
 Problems in day to day life
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Some people are efficient while some are not in problem solving
– Require atitude,approach and understanding
– Example: two students may have different approach w.r.t. subject
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Examples of day to day life problems
– Choosing a career option
– Buying a house, or car , how to Sell a plot or house
– Coping up in a new environment: college or hostel
– Joining a new company , How to tackle with boss
– Starting of a new business , Travelling by plane first time
– Communication problem, Bus facility not available
– Not understanding a subject, not able to concentrate on study
 Problem Solving Steps

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There are six Problem solving steps to be followed for
solving day to day life problems:
– identify the problem: i.e. Define clearly, what, whom
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Example: a patient
– Understand problem: find root cause and define goals,barriers
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Example: Not getting proper marks
– Find alternative solutions: After defining goals, choose methods
– Select the best by evaluating Alternative solutions
– Design solution
– Evalute final solution: otherwise repeat from first
 Types of Problems

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Algorithmic Problems
– solution can be expressed as sequence of steps
– Example: making a cup of tea
– Example: Mathematical Problem: largest of given list
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Heuristic Problems
– Solution can not be expressed as set of steps
– Requires knowledge(experience) to solve it
– Example: Choosing career option, choosing business
– Example: Mathematical problem: choosing a group of three
students satisfying some constraint
 Difficuilties in problem Solving

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People not willing to accept challanges
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Problems are not properly defined.
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Problem is not understood well
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All alternative solutions are not considered
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Wrong evalution of alternative solutions
 Problem Solving Aspects

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These are important issues involved in solving
computational problems
– Preliminary investigation: find i/p and expected o/p. We must try
to extract a set of precisely defined task
– Getting started on the problem: Focus on what is to be done and
not on how it is to be done. Plan the solution instead of directly
starting to solve it
– Use specific examples: ie use test data
– Use similarities among the problems
– Work backword from the problem
– Apply problem solving strategies: Five predesigned Techniques
 Problem Solving Strategies

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Following are the problem solving strategies
used to solve computational problems
– Divide and Conquer
– Greedy Technique
– Dynamic Programming
– Backtracking
– Branch and Bound
 Divide and Conquer

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Divide and conquer: To solve a given problem we solve
similar problems twice or more times.
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We divide the input into more part and each input is
treated as a seperate problem and solved
independantly of the others
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Finally we combine all smaller solutions to get solution
to the original problem: example making a chair
– Example sort a list: we perform sort process twice: not works
– SEARCH: we do search multiple times, This technique will
work for searching problem
 Greedy Technique

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This applied when solution is to be comprised by
constructing a set of members:
– where the members are selected one by one, each
member satisfying some criteria
– Then the selection of each member is made on the basis
of a greedy rule, i.e select that member which looks most
promising in current situation;
– But that selection may prove costlier in future and we can
not rollback
– Ex: Finding Shortest Path, Selecting currency notes
 Dynamic Programming

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This is used for solving optimization problem
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The basic idea is to find solutions for smaller
inputs and then from it build solution for given input
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Ex: Filling up a bag with objects of various prizes
to maximize the amount
– where the total weight of the bag should not exceed its
given capacity the bag capacity
– DP is solve it for bags of smaller capacity and find
solution for bag of given capacity
 Backtracking

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Used in case where solution is to be found out by
generating all possible trials
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The method follows a path and comes back on the
same path by one step if it gets blocked at any mode
while going forward.
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After coming one step back it tries next untried option
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Example: travelling Kopargaon to Ahmednagar
– Assuming the route is not known (as in computers)
– Password cracking
 Branch and Bound

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Is also a technique used for solving Optimization
problems:
– Where the solution is to be found by generating all
possible trials
– This technique uses some criteria to eliminate some
possibilities and hence the search space is reduced
– Example: forming a bunch of three flowers out of 100
different types flowres each one having different price; with
a constraint p1+p2+p3<100
– No need to generate a bunch if any two>=100
 Top Down Design approach
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This is a design approach used to solve comples problems
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Complex problems need to be broken into small “independant”
subtasks
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Solve the subtask seperatly
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Example: Designing a shopping portal: the s/w design subtasks
– User log in
– Searching product by a user
– Giving orders
– Shopping cart of customer
– Payment
– Delivary of product to customer