Assignment 2 - Computational Problem Solving

Akshay Sasi
Mtech CS

1. Traveling Salesman Problem(TSP)

The TSP is to find the shortest possible route that visits a given set of cities and
returns to the starting city. The steps include creating a distance matrix,
generating all possible permutations of city orders, calculating the total distance
for each permutation, and selecting the one with the shortest distance.

2. Chinese Postman Problem(CPP)

The CPP is about finding the shortest possible route that covers all edges of a
connected graph at least once. It's also known as the Route Inspection Problem.
Solutions to CPP typically involve augmenting the graph with duplicate edges and
then finding an Eulerian circuit.

3. Towers of Hanoi Problem

This classic puzzle involves three pegs and a set of disks with different
diameters. The goal is to move the entire stack of disks from one peg to another,
following specific rules: only one disk can be moved at a time, and a larger disk
cannot be placed on top of a smaller one.

4. Missionaries and Cannibals Problem

In this puzzle, three missionaries and three cannibals must cross a river using a
boat that can carry a maximum of two individuals. The challenge is to move all
the individuals across the river while ensuring that the cannibals never
outnumber the missionaries on either side, as they would eat the missionaries.

5. Eight Queens Problem

The Eight Queens puzzle is about placing eight chess queens on an 8x8
chessboard so that no two queens threaten each other. The steps include
 systematically placing queens on the board, checking for conflicts, and
backtracking if conflicts are found. Example: Constraint Satisfaction
Problem(CSP).

6. Monkey and Banana Problem

This puzzle is about moving a monkey across a room to a banana hanging from
the ceiling while using a chair. The steps include moving the monkey and chair
toward the banana, climbing the chair, grabbing the banana, and reversing the
steps.

7. The Konigsberg Bridge Problem

This problem deals with a set of seven bridges in the city of Konigsberg. The
challenge was to find a walk through the city that crossed each bridge once and
only once, returning to the starting point. Euler's solution to this problem laid the
foundation for graph theory.