Specifying problems and success criteria: Practice Questions

Which of the following describes the process of pattern recognition in computational thinking?

What is the main purpose of abstraction in computational thinking?

Consider the following logical expression: \( A \text{ AND } (\text{NOT } B \text{ OR } C) \).

If the Boolean variables are assigned as \( A = \text{true} \), \( B = \text{true} \), and \( C = \text{false} \), what is the final Boolean result of the expression?

In the context of computational thinking and algorithm design, which of the following is a mandatory pre-condition for performing a binary search on a one-dimensional array?

In a Binary Search Tree (BST), the following keys are inserted into an empty tree in the order: 45, 20, 60, 10, 30, 50, 70. Which node is the immediate predecessor (the value immediately before in a sorted sequence) of the root node \( 45 \) when performing an in-order traversal?

Identify and briefly define the component of computational thinking that involves identifying similarities or shared characteristics between different problems.

Explain how thinking concurrently can improve the efficiency of a spreadsheet application when calculating a large workbook containing thousands of independent formulas.

Evaluate how the combination of abstraction and decomposition is utilized when a system designer defines a module interface before the internal code of that module is developed.

A programmer is writing instructions for a robot to draw a square on a screen. The sequence of commands is as follows:
1. Move 10 units forward
2. Turn 90 degrees clockwise
3. Move 10 units forward
4. Turn 90 degrees clockwise
5. Move 10 units forward
6. Turn 90 degrees clockwise
7. Move 10 units forward
8. Turn 90 degrees clockwise

a) Use pattern recognition to identify the repeating sub-sequence in these instructions.
b) Explain how abstraction can be applied to create a more efficient version of this algorithm for the robot.

Consider the following algorithm provided in pseudocode:

\( COUNT = 1 \)
\( TOTAL = 0 \)
loop while \( COUNT < 5 \)
  if \( COUNT \) mod 2 != 0 then
    \( TOTAL = TOTAL + COUNT \)
  else
    \( TOTAL = TOTAL - 1 \)
  end if
  \( COUNT = COUNT + 1 \)
end loop

Construct a trace table to show the values of the variables \( COUNT \) and \( TOTAL \) at the end of every iteration of the loop until the condition is no longer met.