COS 111, Fall 2000 - Problem Set 1

Solution set

Due by 5pm, Tuesday September 26, 2000

Problem 1
Suppose you are given a list of COS111 students that contains the name and the class year of each student. Write an algorithm that finds the numbers of first year students, sophomores, juniors, seniors, and others (we do get special students, graduate students and high school students occasionally; assume they are marked in some special way). The result provided by your algorithm should be the counts for the 5 categories. Organize your description in a step-by-step fashion. Be as precise as possible. What are the basic steps used by your algorithm? What is the input?

Problem 2 :
Write an algorithm to schedule laboratory assistants for COS 111. Assume that there are 4 lab sections, and each needs 3 assistants. Assume you have a list of free afternoons for each of 12 lab assistants. Since I am not giving you the actual schedules of the assistants, you have to write in general terms how you would proceed. Assume that the lab sections on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday afternoon. Organize your description in a step-by-step fashion. Be as precise as possible. What are the basic steps used by your algorithm? What is the input?

Problem 3:
Is there always a solution to problem 2? In other words, is it possible that you can be given a list of free times that makes it absolutely impossible to put three assistants in each session? Justify your answer. What do you think a computer program should do if it discovers that the problem it is trying to solve doesn't have a solution?


Back to Schedule and Assignments