Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes

GE3151 PROBLEM SOLVING AND PYTHON PROGRAMMING

What is Computational thinking?

Computational thinking is the thought processes involved in formulating a problem and
expressing its solution(s) in such a way that a computer—human or machine—can effectively
carry out.’
Example: Predicting climate change Predicting global climate change is only possible because of
advanced computer models.
Components:
decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction, and algorithms
Decomposition invites students to break down complex problems into smaller, simpler problems.
Pattern recognition guides students to make connections between similar problems and
experience. Abstraction- process of filtering out
Types of computation problem: Decision problem, search problem, counting problem,
optimization problem.

PROBLEM SOLVING

Problem solving is the systematic approach to define the problem and creating number of
solutions.
The problem-Solving process starts with the problem specifications and ends with a Correct
program.
PROBLEM SOLVING TECHNIQUES
Problem solving technique is a set of techniques that helps in providing logic for solving a
problem.

Problem Solving Techniques:

Problem solving can be expressed in the form of
1. Algorithms.
2. Flowcharts.
3. Pseudo codes.
4. programs
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes

ALGORITHM

It is defined as a sequence of instructions that describe a method for solving a problem. In other
words it is a step by step procedure for solving a problem.
Properties of Algorithms
Should be written in simple English
Each and every instruction should be precise and unambiguous.
Instructions in an algorithm should not be repeated infinitely.
Algorithm should conclude after a finite number of steps.
Should have an end point
Derived results should be obtained only after the algorithm terminates.

Qualities of a good algorithm

The following are the primary factors that are often used to judge the quality of the algorithms.
Time – To execute a program, the computer system takes some amount of time. The lesser is the
time required, the better is the algorithm.
Memory – To execute a program, computer system takes some amount of memory space. The
lesser is the memory required, the better is the algorithm.
Accuracy – Multiple algorithms may provide suitable or correct solutions to a given problem,
some of these may provide more accurate results than others, and such algorithms may be
suitable.
Example
Write an algorithm to print „Good Morning”
Step 1: Start
Step 2: Print “Good Morning”
Step 3: Stop
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes
BUILDING BLOCKS OF ALGORITHMS (statements, state, control flow, functions)
Algorithms can be constructed from basic building blocks namely, sequence, selection and
iteration.

Statements:
Statement is a single action in a computer.
In a computer statements might include some of the following actions
input data-information given to the program
process data-perform operation on a given input
output data-processed result
State:
Transition from one process to another process under specified condition with in a time is called
state.

Control flow:
The process of executing the individual statements in a given order is called control flow.
The control can be executed in three ways
1. sequence
2. selection
3. iteration

Sequence:
All the instructions are executed one after another is called sequence execution.
Example:

Add two numbers:

Step 1: Start
Step 2: get a,b
Step 3: calculate c=a+b
Step 4: Display c
Step 5: Stop
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes

Selection:
A selection statement causes the program control to be transferred to a specific part of the
program based upon the condition.
If the conditional test is true, one part of the program will be executed, otherwise it will execute
the other part of the program.

Example
Write an algorithm to check whether he is eligible to vote?
Step 1: Start
Step 2: Get age
Step 3: if age >= 18 print “Eligible to vote”
Step 4: else print “Not eligible to vote”
Step 6: Stop
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes

Iteration:
In some programs, certain set of statements are executed again and again based upon conditional
test. i.e. executed more than one time. This type of execution is called looping or iteration.

Example

Write an algorithm to print all natural numbers up to n

Step 1: Start
Step 2: get n value.
Step 3: initialize i=1
Step 4: if (i<=n) go to step 5 else go to step 7
Step 5: Print i value and increment i value by 1
Step 6: go to step 4
Step 7: Stop
Functions:
Function is a sub program which consists of block of code(set of instructions) that performs
a particular task.
For complex problems, the problem is been divided into smaller and simpler tasks during
algorithm design.

Benefits of Using Functions

Reduction in line of code
code reuse
Better readability
Information hiding
Easy to debug and test
Improved maintainability
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes

Example:

Algorithm for addition of two numbers using function

Main function()
Step 1: Start
Step 2: Call the function add()
Step 3: Stop

sub function add()

Step 1: Function start
Step 2: Get a, b Values
Step 3: add c=a+b
Step 4: Print c
Step 5: Return
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes

NOTATIONS
FLOW CHART

Flow chart is defined as graphical representation of the logic for problem solving.
The purpose of flowchart is making the logic of the program clear in a visual representation.
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes

Rules for drawing a flowchart

1. The flowchart should be clear, neat and easy to follow.

2. The flowchart must have a logical start and finish.
3. Only one flow line should come out from a process symbol.

4. Only one flow line should enter a decision symbol. However, two or three flow lines may
leave the decision symbol.

5. Only one flow line is used with a terminal symbol.

6. Within standard symbols, write briefly and precisely.

7. Intersection of flow lines should be avoided.
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes

Advantages of flowchart:

1. Communication: - Flowcharts are better way of communicating the logic of a system

to all concerned.
2. Effective analysis: - With the help of flowchart, problem can be analyzed in
more effective way.
3. Proper documentation: - Program flowcharts serve as a good
program documentation, which is needed for various purposes.
4. Efficient Coding: - The flowcharts act as a guide or blueprint during the
systems analysis and program development phase.
5. Proper Debugging: - The flowchart helps in debugging process.
6. Efficient Program Maintenance: - The maintenance of operating program becomes
easy with the help of flowchart. It helps the programmer to put efforts more efficiently on that
part.

Disadvantages of flow chart:

1. Complex logic: - Sometimes, the program logic is quite complicated. In that

case, flowchart becomes complex and clumsy.
2. Alterations and Modifications: - If alterations are required the flowchart may require
re-drawing completely.
3. Reproduction: - As the flowchart symbols cannot be typed, reproduction of flowchart
becomes a problem.
4. Cost: For large application the time and cost of flowchart drawing becomes costly.
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes
PSEUDO CODE:

Pseudo code consists of short, readable and formally styled English languages used for
explain an algorithm.
It does not include details like variable declaration, subroutines.
It is easier to understand for the programmer or non programmer to understand the general
working of the program, because it is not based on any programming language.
It gives us the sketch of the program before actual coding.
It is not a machine readable
Pseudo code can’t be compiled and executed.
There is no standard syntax for pseudo code.

Guidelines for writing pseudo code:

Write one statement per line
Capitalize initial keyword
Indent to hierarchy
End multiline structure
Keep statements language independent

Common keywords used in pseudocode

The following gives common keywords used in pseudocodes.
1. //: This keyword used to represent a comment.
2. BEGIN,END: Begin is the first statement and end is the last statement.
3. INPUT, GET, READ: The keyword is used to inputting data.
4. COMPUTE, CALCULATE: used for calculation of the result of the given expression. 5.
ADD, SUBTRACT, INITIALIZE used for addition, subtraction and initialization.

6. OUTPUT, PRINT, DISPLAY: It is used to display the output of the program.

7. IF, ELSE, ENDIF: used to make decision.
8. WHILE, ENDWHILE: used for iterative statements.
9. FOR, ENDFOR: Another iterative incremented/decremented tested automatically.
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes

Syntax for if else:

IF (condition)THEN
statement
...
ELSE
statement
...
ENDIF

Example: Greates of two numbers

BEGIN
READ a,b
IF (a>b) THEN
DISPLAY a is greater
ELSE
DISPLAY b is greater
END IF
END
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes

Syntax for For:

FOR( start-value to end-value) DO
statement
...
ENDFOR
Example: Print n natural numbers
BEGIN
GET n
INITIALIZE i=1
FOR (i<=n) DO
PRINT i
i=i+1
ENDFOR
END
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes
Syntax for While:
WHILE (condition) DO
statement
...
ENDWHILE
Example: Print n natural numbers
BEGIN
GET n
INITIALIZE i=1
WHILE(i<=n) DO
PRINT i
i=i+1
ENDWHILE
END
Advantages:
Pseudo is independent of any language; it can be used by most programmers.
It is easy to translate pseudo code into a programming language.
It can be easily modified as compared to flowchart.

converting a flowchart to programming language.

Disadvantages:
It does not provide visual representation of the program’s logic.
There are no accepted standards for writing pseudo codes.
It cannot be compiled nor executed.

flowchart.
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes
Example:

Addition of two numbers:

BEGIN
GET a,b
ADD c=a+b
PRINT c
END

PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE
A programming language is a set of symbols and rules for instructing a computer to perform
specific tasks. The programmers have to follow all the specified rules before writing program
using programming language. The user has to communicate with the computer using language
which it can understand.

Types of programming language

1. Machine language
2. Assembly language
3. High level language
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes
Machine language:

The computer can understand only machine language which uses 0’s and 1’s. In machine
language the different instructions are formed by taking different combinations of 0’s and 1’s.

Advantages:
Translation free:
Machine language is the only language which the computer understands. For executing any
program written in any programming language, the conversion to machine language is necessary.
The program written in machine language can be executed directly on computer. In this case any
conversion process is not required.
High speed
The machine language program is translation free. Since the conversion time is saved, the
execution of machine language program is extremely fast.
Disadvantage:
It is hard to find errors in a program written in the machine language.
Writhing program in machine language is a time consuming process.

Machine dependent: According to architecture used, the computer differs from each other. So
machine language differs from computer to computer. So a program developed for a particular
type of computer may not run on other type of computer.
Assembly language:
To overcome the issues in programming language and make the programming process easier, an
assembly language is developed which is logically equivalent to machine language but it is easier
for people to read, write and understand.
Assembly language is symbolic representation of machine language. Assembly languages are
symbolic programming language that uses symbolic notation to represent machine language
instructions. They are called low level language because they are so closely related to the
machines.
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes

Assembler
Assembler is the program which translates assembly language instruction in to a machine
language.

Easy to understand and use.

It is easy to locate and correct errors.

Disadvantage
Machine dependent
The assembly language program which can be executed on the machine depends on the
architecture of that computer.
Hard to learn
It is machine dependent, so the programmer should have the hardware knowledge to create
applications using assembly language.
Less efficient
Execution time of assembly language program is more than machine language program.
Because assembler is needed to convert from assembly language to machine language.

High level language

High level language contains English words and symbols. The specified rules are to be followed
while writing program in high level language. The interpreter or compilers are used for
converting these programs in to machine readable form.

Translating high level language to machine language

The programs that translate high level language in to machine language are called interpreter or
compiler.
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes

Compiler:
A compiler is a program which translates the source code written in a high level language in to
object code which is in machine language program. Compiler reads the whole program written in
high level language and translates it to machine language. If any error is found it display error
message on the screen.
Interpreter
Interpreter translates the high level language program in line by line manner. The interpreter
translates a high level language statement in a source program to a machine code and executes it
immediately before translating the next statement. When an error is found the execution of the
program is halted and error message is displayed on the screen.
Advantages
Readability
High level language is closer to natural language so they are easier to learn and understand
Machine independent
High level language program have the advantage of being portable between machines.
Easy debugging
Easy to find and correct error in high level language
Disadvantages
Less efficient
The translation process increases the execution time of the program. Programs in high level
language require more memory and take more execution time to execute.
They are divided into following categories:
1. Interpreted programming languages
2. Functional programming languages
3. Compiled programming languages
4. Procedural programming languages
5. Scripting programming language
6. Markup programming language
7. Concurrent programming language
8. Object oriented programming language
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes

Interpreted programming languages:

An interpreted language is a programming language for which most of its implementation

executes instructions directly, without previously compiling a program into machine language
instructions. The interpreter executes the program directly translating each statement into a
sequence of one or more subroutines already compiled into machine code.
Examples:
Pascal
Python
Functional programming language:
Functional programming language defines every computation as a mathematical evaluation.
They focus on the programming languages are bound to mathematical calculations
Examples:
Clean
Haskell
Compiled Programming language:
A compiled programming is a programming language whose implementation are typically
compilers and not interpreters.
It will produce a machine code from source code.
Examples:
C
C++
C#
JAVA
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes

Procedural programming language:

Procedural (imperative) programming implies specifying the steps that the programs should take
to reach to an intended state.
A procedure is a group of statements that can be referred through a procedure call. Procedures
help in the reuse of code. Procedural programming makes the programs structured and easily
traceable for program flow.
Examples:
Hyper talk
MATLAB
Scripting language:
Scripting language are programming languages that control an application. Scripts can execute
independent of any other application. They are mostly embedded in the application that they
control and are used to automate frequently executed tasks like communicating with external
program.
Examples:
Apple script
VB script
Markup languages:
A markup language is an artificial language that uses annotations to text that define hoe the text
is to be displayed.
Examples:
HTML
XML
Concurrent programming language:
Concurrent programming is a computer programming technique that provides for the execution
of operation concurrently, either with in a single computer or across a number of systems.
Examples:
Joule
Limbo
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes

Object oriented programming language:

Object oriented programming is a programming paradigm based on the concept of objects which
may contain data in the form of procedures often known as methods.
Examples:
Lava
Moto
ALGORITHMIC PROBLEM SOLVING:
Algorithmic problem solving is solving problem that require the formulation of an algorithm for
the solution.
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes

Understanding the Problem

It is the process of finding the input of the problem that the algorithm solves.
It is very important to specify exactly the set of inputs the algorithm needs to handle.
A correct algorithm is not one that works most of the time, but one that works correctly
for all legitimate inputs.

Ascertaining the Capabilities of the Computational Device

If the instructions are executed one after another, it is called sequential algorithm.
If the instructions are executed concurrently, it is called parallel algorithm.

Choosing between Exact and Approximate Problem Solving

The next principal decision is to choose between solving the problem exactly or solving it
approximately.
Based on this, the algorithms are classified as exact algorithm and approximation algorithm.

Deciding a data structure:

Data structure plays a vital role in designing and analysis the algorithms.
Some of the algorithm design techniques also depend on the structuring data specifying a
problem’s instance
Algorithm+ Data structure=programs.

Algorithm Design Techniques

An algorithm design technique (or “strategy” or “paradigm”) is a general approach to
solving problems algorithmically that is applicable to a variety of problems from different areas
of computing.
Learning these techniques is of utmost importance for the following reasons.
First, they provide guidance for designing algorithms for new problems,
Second, algorithms are the cornerstone of computer science
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes

Methods of Specifying an Algorithm

Pseudocode is a mixture of a natural language and programming language-like constructs.
Pseudocode is usually more precise than natural language, and its usage often yields more
succinct algorithm descriptions.
In the earlier days of computing, the dominant vehicle for specifying algorithms was
a flowchart, a method of expressing an algorithm by a collection of connected geometric shapes
containing descriptions of the algorithm’s steps.
Programming language can be fed into an electronic computer directly. Instead, it needs to
be converted into a computer program written in a particular computer language. We can look at

consider it as the algorithm’s implementation.

Proving an Algorithm’s Correctness

Once an algorithm has been specified, you have to prove its correctness. That is, you have to
prove that the algorithm yields a required result for every legitimate input in a finite amount of
time.
A common technique for proving correctness is to use mathematical induction because an
algorithm’s iterations provide a natural sequence of steps needed for such proofs.
It might be worth mentioning that although tracing the algorithm’s performance for a few
specific inputs can be a very worthwhile activity, it cannot prove the algorithm’s correctness
conclusively. But in order to show that an algorithm is incorrect, you need just one instance of its
input for which the algorithm fails.

Analysing an Algorithm
1. Efficiency.
Time efficiency, indicating how fast the algorithm runs,
Space efficiency, indicating how much extra memory it uses.

2. simplicity.
An algorithm should be precisely defined and investigated with mathematical expressions.
Simpler algorithms are easier to understand and easier to program.
Simple algorithms usually contain fewer bugs.
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes

Coding an Algorithm
Most algorithms are destined to be ultimately implemented as computer programs.
Programming an algorithm presents both a peril and an opportunity.
A working program provides an additional opportunity in allowing an empirical analysis of
the underlying algorithm. Such an analysis is based on timing the program on several inputs and
then analysing the results obtained.
SIMPLE STRATEGIES FOR DEVELOPING ALGORITHMS:
1. Iterations
2. Recursions
1. Iterations:
A sequence of statements is executed until a specified condition is true is called iterations.
1. for loop
2. While loop
Syntax for For:
FOR( start-value to end-value) DO
Statement
...
ENDFOR

Example: Print n natural numbers

BEGIN
GET n
INITIALIZE i=1
FOR (i<=n) DO
PRINT i
i=i+1
ENDFOR
END
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes
Syntax for While:
WHILE (condition) DO
Statement
...
ENDWHILE
Example: Print n natural numbers
BEGIN
GET n
INITIALIZE i=1
WHILE(i<=n) DO
PRINT i
i=i+1
ENDWHILE
END
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes
Recursions:
A function that calls itself is known as recursion.
Recursion is a process by which a function calls itself repeatedly until some specified
condition has been satisfied.
Algorithm for factorial of n numbers using recursion:
Main function:
Step1: Start
Step2: Get n
Step3: call factorial(n)
Step4: print fact
Step5: Stop
Sub function factorial(n):
Step1: if(n==1) then fact=1 return fact
Step2: else fact=n*factorial(n-1) and return fact
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes

Pseudo code for factorial using recursion:

Main function:
BEGIN
GET n
CALL factorial(n)
PRINT fact
BIN
Sub function factorial(n):
IF(n==1) THEN
fact=1
RETURN fact
ELSE
RETURN fact=n*factorial(n-1)
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes
More examples:
Wrte an algorithm to find area of a rectangle
Step 1: Start
Step 2: get l,b values
Step 3: Calculate A=l*b
Step 4: Display A
Step 5: Stop

BEGIN
READ l,b
CALCULATE A=l*b
DISPLAY A
END
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes

Write an algorithm for Calculating area and circumference of circle

Step 1: Start
Step 2: get r value
Step 3: Calculate A=3.14*r*r
Step 4: Calculate C=2.3.14*r
Step 5: Display A,C
Step 6: Stop

BEGIN
READ r
CALCULATE A and C
A=3.14*r*r
C=2*3.14*r
DISPLAY A
END
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes
Write an algorithm for Calculating simple interest
Step 1: Start
Step 2: get P, n, r value
Step3:Calculate
SI=(p*n*r)/100
Step 4: Display S
Step 5: Stop

BEGIN
READ P, n, r
CALCULATE S
SI=(p*n*r)/100
DISPLAY SI
END
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes

Write an algorithm for Calculating engineering cutoff

Step 1: Start
Step2: get P,C,M value
Step3:calculate
Cutoff= (P/4+C/4+M/2)
Step 4: Display Cutoff
Step 5: Stop

BEGIN
READ P,C,M
CALCULATE
Cutoff= (P/4+C/4+M/2)
DISPLAY Cutoff
END
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes

To check greatest of two numbers

Step 1: Start
Step 2: get a,b value
Step 3: check if(a>b) print a is greater
Step 4: else b is greater
Step 5: Stop

BEGIN
READ a,b
IF (a>b) THEN
DISPLAY a is greater
ELSE
DISPLAY b is greater
END IF
END
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes

To check leap year or not

Step 1: Start
Step 2: get y
Step 3: if(y%4==0) print leap year
Step 4: else print not leap year
Step 5: Stop

BEGIN
READ y
IF (y%4==0) THEN
DISPLAY leap year
ELSE
DISPLAY not leap year
END IF
END
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes

To check positive or negative number

Step 1: Start
Step 2: get num
Step 3: check if(num>0) print a is positive
Step 4: else num is negative
Step 5: Stop

BEGIN
READ num
IF (num>0) THEN
DISPLAY num is positive
ELSE
DISPLAY num is negative
END IF
END
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes

To check odd or even number

Step 1: Start
Step 2: get num
Step 3: check if(num%2==0) print num is even
Step 4: else num is odd
Step 5: Stop

BEGIN
READ num
IF (num%2==0) THEN
DISPLAY num is even
ELSE
DISPLAY num is odd
END IF
END
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes

To check greatest of three numbers

Step1: Start
Step2: Get A, B, C
Step3: if(A>B) goto Step4 else goto step5
Step4: If(A>C) print A else print C
Step5: If(B>C) print B else print C
Step6: Stop

BEGIN
READ a, b, c
IF (a>b) THEN
IF(a>c) THEN
DISPLAY a is greater
ELSE
DISPLAY c is greater
END IF
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes
ELSE
IF(b>c) THEN
DISPLAY b is greater
ELSE
DISPLAY c is greater
END IF
END IF
END
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes

Write an algorithm to check whether given number is +ve, -ve or zero.

Step 1: Start
Step 2: Get n value.
Step 3: if (n ==0) print “Given number is Zero” Else goto step4
Step 4: if (n > 0) then Print “Given number is +ve”
Step 5: else Print “Given number is -ve”
Step 6: Stop

BEGIN
GET n
IF(n==0) THEN
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes
DISPLAY “ n is zero”
ELSE
IF(n>0) THEN
DISPLAY “n is positive”
ELSE
DISPLAY “n is positive”
END IF
END IF
END

Write an algorithm to print all natural numbers up to n

Step 1: Start
Step 2: get n value.
Step 3: initialize i=1
Step 4: if (i<=n) go to step 5 else go to step 8
Step 5: Print i value
step 6 : increment i value by 1
Step 7: go to step 4
Step 8: Stop
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes

BEGIN
GET n
INITIALIZE i=1
WHILE(i<=n) DO
PRINT i
i=i+1
ENDWHILE
END
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes

Write an algorithm to print n odd numbers

Step 1: start
step 2: get n value
step 3: set initial value i=1
step 4: check if(i<=n) goto step 5 else goto step 8
step 5: print i value
step 6: increment i value by 2
step 7: goto step 4
step 8: stop

BEGIN
GET n
INITIALIZE i=1
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes
WHILE(i<=n) DO
PRINT i
i=i+2
ENDWHILE
END

Write an algorithm to print n even numbers

Step 1: start
step 2: get n value
step 3: set initial value i=2
step 4: check if(i<=n) goto step 5 else goto step8
step 5: print i value
step 6: increment i value by 2
step 7: goto step 4
step 8: stop
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes

BEGIN
GET n
INITIALIZE i=2
WHILE(i<=n) DO
PRINT i
i=i+2
ENDWHILE
END
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes
Write an algorithm to print squares of a number
Step 1: start
step 2: get n value
step 3: set initial value i=1
step 4: check i value if(i<=n) goto step 5 else goto step8
step 5: print i*i value
step 6: increment i value by 1
step 7: goto step 4
step 8: stop

BEGIN
GET n
INITIALIZE i=1
WHILE(i<=n) DO
PRINT i*i
i=i+2
ENDWHILE
END
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes
Write an algorithm to print to print cubes of a number
Step 1: start
step 2: get n value
step 3: set initial value i=1
step 4: check i value if(i<=n) goto step 5 else goto step8
step 5: print i*i *i value
step 6: increment i value by 1
step 7: goto step 4
step 8: stop

BEGIN
GET n
INITIALIZE i=1
WHILE(i<=n) DO
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes
PRINT i*i*i
i=i+2
ENDWHILE
END

Write an algorithm to find sum of a given number

Step 1: start
step 2: get n value
step 3: set initial value i=1, sum=0
Step 4: check i value if(i<=n) goto step 5 else goto step8
step 5: calculate sum=sum+i
step 6: increment i value by 1
step 7: goto step 4
step 8: print sum value
step 9: stop
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes

BEGIN
GET n
INITIALIZE i=1,sum=0
WHILE(i<=n) DO
sum=sum+i
i=i+1
ENDWHILE
PRINT sum
END
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes
Write an algorithm to find factorial of a given number
Step 1: start
step 2: get n value
step 3: set initial value i=1, fact=1
Step 4: check i value if(i<=n) goto step 5 else goto step8
step 5: calculate fact=fact*i
step 6: increment i value by 1
step 7: goto step 4
step 8: print fact value
step 9: stop

BEGIN
GET n
INITIALIZE i=1,fact=1
WHILE(i<=n) DO
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes
fact=fact*i
i=i+1
ENDWHILE
PRINT fact
END

b) Write an algorithm and give the pseudo code to guess an integer number in a range.

Algorithm:
step 1: Start the program
step 2: Read an 'n' number
step 3: Read an Guess number
step 4: if Guess> n; print "Your Guess too high" Step 5: elif Guess <n ; print "Your Guess
too low" step 6: elif Guess = = n; print "Good job"
Step 7: else print"Nope "
Step :8 Stop the program

Pseudocode:
BEGIN
READ n
READ Guess = 20
IF Guess> n
print"Your Guess too High" elif Guess< n
print "Your Guess too low" elif Guess = = 20
print "Good Job"
ELSE
print"Nope"
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes

8. a) Write an algorithm to insert a card in a list of sorted cards.

ALGORITHM:
Step 1: Start
Step 2: Declare the variables N, List[],I and X
Step 3: READ Number of element in sorted list as N
Step 4: SET i=0
Step 5: IF i<N THEN go to step 6 ELSE go to step 9
Step 6: READ Sorted list element as List[i]
Step 7: i=i+1
Step 8: go to step 5
Step 9: READ Element to be insert as X
Step 10: SET i=N-1
Step 11: IF i>0 AND X<List[i] THEN go to step 12 ELSE go to step 15
Step 13: i=i-1
Step 14: go to step 11
Step 15: List[i+1]=X
Step 16: Stop

b) Write an algorithm to find the minimum number in a list.

Algorithm:
Step 1 : Start
Step 2 : Initialize the value of minimum = 0
Step 3 : Enter the input number (n) of items in a list.
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes
Step 4 : Get all the elements using for loop and store it in a list.
Step 5: Assign the first element in a list as minimum.
Step 6: Compare maximum with the first element in a list,n.
Step 7: Repeat step 8,9 until list becomes empty.
Step 8 : If n is less than the minimum
Step 9 : Assign minimum = n
Step 10 : Display mi nimum

Pseudocode:
BEGIN
SET numlist=[ ]
GET n
FOR i=1 to n
GET numlist elements
ENDFOR
SET minimum = numlist[0]
FOR i in numlist
IF (n < minimum)
minimum = n
ENDIF
ENDFOR
PRINT minimum
END
 Poriyaalan Lecturer Notes
c) Write the pseudo code for Towers of Hanoi.

Pseudocode
START
Procedure Hanoi(disk, source, dest, aux)
IF disk = = 0, THEN
move disk from source to dest
ELSE
Hanoi(disk - 1, source, aux, dest)
move disk from source to dest
Hanoi(disk - 1, aux, dest, source)
END IF
END Procedure