Problem Solving and Algorithms Computational Thinking Diego Aguirre
Expectations
Who Am I?
What is this class about?
A little problem…
A little problem… What if we had numbers From 1 to 27 … From 1 to 2187 Teams of 3 -> 15 minutes
El Paso’s Best Bowling Place
El Paso’s Best Bowling Place You want this place to be unique, so… More Bowling Pins!!!!
El Paso’s Best Bowling Place You have to buy all those pins… When n = 4, number of pins = 10
El Paso’s Best Bowling Place Let’s say each pin is 1 dollar… 10 bowling alleys You want to see how expensive it is to buy pins for those 10 alleys, for n = 4, n = 10, n = 15, n = 20 How do you do it? Teams of 3 -> 10 minutes
El Paso’s Best Bowling Place You are worried about how wide the alleys would be… If the distance between each pin is 0.1m, and each pin is also 0.1m wide… How wide should the alley be when n = 4, n = 10, etc…
How did you solve these problems? Did you need a computer? Did you see something in common in these problems? The way you solved the Sudoku puzzles, and the way you calculated how many pins you needed…
How did you solve these problems? Did you need a computer? Did you see something in common in these problems? The way you solved the Sudoku puzzles, and the way you calculated how many pins you needed… Solutions can (and should!) be resued! Problems like this appear everywhere in different contexts!
How did you solve these problems? Do you think you used “Computational Thinking” even though a computer was not strictly necessary? Hint: Why would I ask this questions if the answer was yes :P
Computational Thinking Let’s come up with a definition… No right or wrong answers…. Teams of 3 -> 10 minutes
1. Decomposition Break a problem into parts or steps How did we use Decomposition in the previous problems?
2. Patter Recognition Observing patterns, trends, and regularities in data How did we use Patter Recognition in the previous problems?
3. Abstraction Identifying the general principles that generate these patterns How did we use Abstraction in the previous problems?
Model What is a model? Discuss…
Model
Model All models are wrong, but some are useful
4. Algorithm Design Developing the step by step instructions for solving this and similar problems How did we use Algorithm Design in the previous problems?
Computational Thinking Thinking time! I want you to put all of these in your own words… Use examples!!!! Teams of 3 – 15 minutes