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BEGINNING PROBLEM-SOLVING
CONCEPTS FOR THE COMPUTER

Chapter 2
 3 Types of Problems that can be solved on
computers :
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 Computational
 problems involving some kind of mathematical
processing
 Logical
 Problems involving relational or logical processing
 Repetitive
 Problems involving repeating a set of mathematical
and/or logical instructions.
 Fundamental Concepts
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 The building blocks of equations and expressions

 Constants

 Variables

 Operators

 Functions

 Expressions

 equations
 Constants
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 A value
a specific alphabetical and/or numeric value
 Does not change during the processing of all the
instructions in a solution
 Can be of any data type
 Numeric, alphabetical or special symbols
 Examples
 3, 5, 10, “Sara”, “+”, “-”, “/”
 Constants
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 In some programming languages, constants can be

named
 Provides protection to the constant value and other
areas of the program.
 Cannot be changed once given initial value

 Example
 SalesTaxRate =6
 Commission_Rate = 6

 Note: no spaces within variable names

Variables
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 May change during processing

 In many programming languages, variables are
called identifiers.
 The variable name should be consistent with what the
value of the variable represents
 A name is assigned to each variable used in a
solution.
 The name references the memory area where the value is
stored.
 Variables
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 The computer uses the name as a reference to help

it find that value in its memory .
 May be of any data type
 Examples
 Age, LastName, Address, PayRate
Difference between name of a variable and
value of a variable
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 The rule for naming variable differ from language to

language .
 there will be no character- length limitations for
variable .
 The computer uses the variable name to find the
location; it uses the value found at the memory
location to do the processing.
 Rules for Naming Variables
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1- name variable according to what it represents

√ Hours  for hours worked.
x H  for hours worked (correct but not
recommended because it is not clear enough).

√ PayRate  for rate of pay.

x P  for rate of pay (correct but not
recommended because it is not clear enough).
Create as short a name as possible, but one that clearly
represents the variable.
2- Do not use spaces
√ HoursWorked  for hours worked (correct).
x Hours Worked  Incorrect because the space.

√ StudentName  for student name (correct).

x Student Name  Incorrect because the space.
3 - Start a variable name with a letter.
√ Hours  for hours worked (correct).
x 2hours  Incorrect because starting by number 2.

√ Student  for student name (correct).

x 8Student  Incorrect because starting by number 8
4- Do not use a dash ( or any other symbol that is used
as mathematical operator).

For example:
√ StudentName  for student name (correct).
x Student-Name  Incorrect because using a dash symbol.
13

4 - Be consistent when using upper-and lower case

characters.

 HOURS is different variable name than Hours

For example:
Age and AGE are two variables (not the same variable).
5 - Exact variable name must be used in all places
where the data item is used .
For example:
If the data item hours worked has the variable name of Hours, Hours must
be used consistently.
√ Hours  hours worked
x Hrs or HoursWorked (Incorrect, it is a new variable).
6 - Use the naming convention specified by the company
where you work. The naming convention is uppercase for the
first character in each of the words in the name, with no
spaces between words in the name.

Variable Names Constant Name

PayRate PI
Rate KCONATANT
HoursWorked MULTIPLIER
Amount
Tempreature
StudentName
 Data type
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 Data
 unorganized facts.
 They go into the computer as input .

 Information
 The output of processing of input .
 Is printed in the form of reports.
 Processing Data – How a computer
Balances a Checkbook
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Input Data Output

Data Processed Report
into Information

Checks
Deposits Calculates the Balance
Bank Charge Balance Sheet
 Data Types
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 Data can come with different type :(Most common types)

 Numeric
 Character
 Logical

 Computer should know the data type of each

variable or constant .
 Most languages include other data types
 Date
 User-defined
 Numeric Types
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 Include all types of numbers.

 The only data type that can be used in numeric
calculation.
 Integers
 3, 5, -5, 0, -1 and 32,767
 Real numbers (floating point numbers)
 Are whole numbers plus decimal parts (3.1459, -5745)
 Scientific Notation
 2.3E5 or 5.4E-3,
where E stands for the Power of 10
 Canbe Positive or Negative.
 Numeric data are used for value ( salary , rate of pay)
 Data Types & Data Sets
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 Each data type has a data set

 A data set is the set of value that are allowed in a
particular data type.
Data Types & Data Sets
Data Type Data Set Examples
Numeric :Integer All whole numbers 3456
-43
Numeric :Real All real numbers (whole + 3456.78
decimal) 0.000123
Character (uses All letters, numbers, and “A”, “a”, “1”, “5”, “+”,
quotation marks) special symbols “%”

String (uses quotation Combinations of more than “Mulder”

marks) one character “Scully”
“123-45-6789”
Logical True or False True
False

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 Character Types
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 Alphanumeric data set

 Consists of
 all single-digit numbers,
 letters, and
 special characters available to the computer

 contained within quotation marks

 An upper case letter is considered a different
character from a lower case letter .
 Table of ASCII Characters
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Char Dec Char Dec

A 65 a 97

B 66 b 98

C 67 c 99

D 68 d 100

E 69 e 101

...... ...... ...... ......

…... …... …... …...

 String Data Type
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 Made up of one or more characters.

 Contained within quotation marks
 Cannot be used within calculations
 Items that would not have mathematical
computations performed on them should be
designed string data type .
 some languages do not differentiate between
characters and strings .
 Strings - Caution
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 “123” is not the same thing as 123

 The first one is a string
 The second one is a number

 Becomes important when deciding when a piece of

data is a string or a number
 Ex. Social Security Numbers
 Thefirst one contains 11 characters and is left aligned
whereas the second contains 9 numbers and is right aligned
 Comparing Characters & Strings
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 The computer’s particular coding scheme (ASCII,

Unicode, or EBCDIC) converts the character to its
associated ordinal number
 The computer gives each character a number.
 The number representation is necessary because the
computer work only with numbers.
example:
A  65
a  97
 Comparing Characters & Strings
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 Note: Uppercase letters have a smaller ordinal values than

lowercase letters
 “A” = 65 whereas “a” = 97 (ASCII 8-bit)

 Once converted, each character, one at a time, can

be compared.
 Example:
 Banana is larger than Apple because B has larger
number representing it than A

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 Comparing Characters & Strings
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 Concatenation could be used to join a first name with

a last name or to join pieces of data together.

 Characters and String data can be compared and

arranged in alphabetical order (as ascending order).
 Concatenation
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 Joins character data or string data together with the

+ operator .
 Example :
 “James”+ “ ” + “T.” + “ ” + “Kirk” = “James T. Kirk”
 “100” + “3” = “1003” not “ 103 “
 Logical (Boolean) Data Type
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 Consists of two value in the data set :

 True and False
 Some languages accept yes, T, and Y for true .

 no, F, and N c for False .

 Example :
 Check someone’s credit record ; true means credit is ok.
False means it’s not ok.
 For example, the variable Warm might be declared as a
logical data type to describe if temperature values are
warm or not.
 Other Data Types
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 date data type and user defined data type

 Date data type is a number for the date that is

the number of days from a certain date .

 Is a numeric data type because you can perform

mathematical calculation on any date .
 User-Defined Data Types
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 User-defined Data types

 Defined by the user as a new data type
 Example( kind of cars )
Car_Type
GMC
Ford
Toyota
End
 Rules for Data Types
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 Programmer chooses the data type during the

programming process .
 The data that define the value of a variable or a constant
will be one of three data type : numeric , character or
logical .
 Data types can not be mixed, Once a constant or a
variable has been given a data type it cannot change.
 All data to be used in calculations must be declared as a
numeric data type.
 Rules for Data Types
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 Each data type uses a data set or domain

 Numeric – uses the set of all base 10 numbers, the plus
sign(+), and the negative sign(-) .
 Characters – all characters included in the computer.
 Logical – the words “true” and “false”
 Data Data Type
The price of item Numeric
4.25 Real

Examples of Data Account number

“1234567”
String

Types Room numbers Numeric

112 Integer
Name of company String
“Apple Macintosh”
Check status Logical
Pass/Fail
True or False
Date Date or
12/3/2011 String
 How the Computer Stores Data
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Data Storage
 Each variable name is given a memory location
 Each memory location can hold one and only one
value at a time.
 This memories are temporary storage, when a user
enters a new value the old one is destroyed

Example:
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 Functions
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 Small sets of instructions that perform specific tasks

and return values.
FunctionName(data)
 Are used as parts of instructions in a solution .
 Two types:
 Pre-defined
 each language has a set of functions within it .
 User-defined
 Programmers write their own functions.
 Functions
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 The name of function may vary from language to

language
 Benefits
 Reduces the amount of code that needs to be written,
thus reducing errors of repetition.
 Function Parameters
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 the data which is listed as part of the function and

are called parameters .
 In Sqrt(n), the n represents the parameter, in this case a
number
 In Value(s), the s represents a string

 Not all function need parameters

 In Random , no data are needed
 Parameter can be a constant , a variable , or an
expression
Function Types
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1. Mathematical
 Used in science and business , Calculate such things as
square root, absolute value
2. String
 Manipulate string variable
3. Conversion
 Convert data from one data type to another
4. Statistical
5. Utility
 Important in business programming
Mathematical Functions
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Function Form Example Result

Square Root Sqrt(n) Sqrt(4) 2
Absolute Abs(n) Abs(-3), Abs(3) 3
Rounding Round(n,n1) Round (3.7259,2) 3.73
Integer Integer(n) Integer(5.7269) 5
Random Random Random 0.239768
Sign of a number Sign(n) Sign(7.39) 1
 String Functions
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Function Form Example Result

Mid(S,3,2) where
Middle String Mid(s, n1, n2) S = "Thomas" "om"
Left(S,3) where S
Left String Left(s, n) = "Thomas" "Tho"
Right(S, 3) where
Right String Right(s, n) S = "Thomas" "mas"
Length(S) where S
Length String Length(s) = "Thomas" 6
 Conversion Functions
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Function Form Example Result

Valued Conversion Value(s) Value("-12.34") -12.34
String Conversion String(n) String(-12.34) "-12.34"

For example, since character string can not be used

in calculations, one of these functions would convert
a string value to a numeric value
 Statistical Functions
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Function Form Example Result

Average Average(list) Average(5, 3, 8, 6) 5.5
Maximum Max(list) Max(5, 3, 8, 6) 8
Minimum Min(list) Min(5, 3, 8, 6) 3
Summation Sum(list) Sum (5, 3, 8, 6) 22
 Utility Functions
45 Functio Definition Exampl Result
n e
Date Returns the current date from the Date 09/15/08
system. The date may be in various
forms:
mm/dd/yy, day only, month only, year
only, or Julian calendar
Time Returns the current time from the Time 9:22:34
system. The time may be in various
forms:
hh:mm:ss, seconds from midnight, or
minutes from midnight
Error Returns control to the program when a
systems error occurs.
 Operators
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 The data connectors within expressions and

equations.
 thy tell the computer how to process the data .
 They also tell the computer what type of the
processing( mathematical, logical, or …..) needs to
done.
 The operand are the data that the operator
connect and processes ( constants or variable).
 The data type of the operands of an operator must
be the same.
 The resultant is the answer that results when the
operation is completed .
 The data type of operands and the resultant
depends on the operator .
 Ex : 5 + 7
 Operator Types
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1. Mathematical
 The data types of operands and resultants of
mathematical operators are always numeric
 +, -, *, /
 \, Mod ( used in business )
 ^
 functions
 Two Special Math Operators
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 Integer Division (\)

 Ifgiven a Floating Point number, the number is
rounded—first—before division occurs.

 Modulo Division (Mod) or Modulus

 The remainder part of the answer is returned.
Mathematical Operators

Operator Compute Operation Resultant

r Symbol
Addition + 3.0 + 5.2 8.2
Subtraction - 7.5 – 4.0 3.5
Multiplication * 8.0 * 5.0 40.0
Division / 9.0/4.0 2.25
Integer division \ 9\4 2
Modulo division MOD 9 MOD 4 1
Power ^ 3^2 9
 Relational Operators
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 Relational operators

 Perform comparisons
 the use of relational operators is the only way for the
computer to make decisions .
 The resultant of relational operation is logical data type .
 The operand s can be numeric or character
 Relational operatores

Operator Computer Operation Resultant

Symbol
Equal to = 5=7 False
Less than < 5<7 True
Greater than > 5>7 False
Less than or equal to <= 5<=7 True
Greater than or equal to >= 5>=7 False

Not <> 5<>7 True

 Logical Operators
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 AND, OR, NOT

 used to connect relational expressions .
 a = b AND c < d
 Perform operations on logical data.
 They are defined by using Truth Tables…
Logical opeartores

Operator Compute Operation Resultant

r Symbol
Not NOT NOT True False
And AND True AND True True
Or OR True OR False True
 The AND Operator
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 Significance: The only time the result is True is

if both A and B are True.

A B A AND B
True True True
True False False
False True False
False False False
 The OR Operator
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 Significance: The only time the result is False is

if both A and B are False.

A B A OR B
True True True
True False True
False True True
False False False
 The NOT Operator
57

 Also called the “logical complement” or

“logical negation”
 Significance: Whatever the value of A is, NOT A
will be the opposite.

A NOT A
True False
False True
 Hierarchy of Operations
58

 Data and Operators are combined to form

expressions and equations
 To evaluate these in the proper order, a hierarchy of
operations, or Order of Precedence, is used.
 The processing of the operands always starts with
”functions” then the innermost parentheses and
works outward, and processes from left to right

 Note: Whenever you want to clarify an equation, use

the parentheses!
 The Order of Precedence
59
Order of Operations Operand Data Type Resultant Data Type

( ) reorders the hierarchy; all operations are completed within the

parentheses using the same hierarchy
Power ^ Numeric Numeric
\, MOD Numeric Numeric
*, / Numeric Numeric
+, _ Numeric Numeric
=, <, >, < =, > =, < > Numeric or string or Logical
character
NOT Logical Logical
AND Logical Logical
OR Logical Logical
 Example
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 Evaluate the following:

 A = True, B = False, C = True, D = False
A or B or C and D and A and B and (not C) or (not D)
 To do this, we create what’s called an Evaluation
Tree…
61

A or B or C and D and A and B and (not C) or (not D)

False
True
False
False
False
False
True
True
True
 Expressions & Equations
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 Expressions
 Process the data and the operands, through the use
of the operators
 Does not store the resultant (answer)

 Examples :

to find the number of square feet in a room :

Length * Width
 Equations
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 Same as an expression, except the equation stores

the resultant (answer) in a memory location
 “takes on the value of” not equals

 Examples

Area = Length * Width

 Often called Assignment Statements

 Expressions Equations

A+B C= A + B
A and B are numeric. C ,A and B are numeric.
The resultant is numeric and is The resultant is stored in C .
not stored
A<B C=A<B
A and B are numeric , character, A and B are numeric , character,
or string. or string .
The resultant is logical and is The resultant is stored in C ;
not stored . C is logical.
A OR B C = A OR B
A and B are logical . C ,A and B are logical .
The resultant is logical and is The resultant is stored in C .
not stored
Example : evaluating a mathematical
expression .

5*(X+Y)–4*Y/(Z+6)
 uses the following values to evaluate the expression :

X=2 Y=3 Z=6

Operation resultant
1. X + Y 5
2. Z + 6 12
3. 5 * resultant of 1 25
4. 4 * Y 12
5. Resultant of 4 / resultant of 2 1
6. Resultant of 3 – resultant of 5 24
Example : evaluating a relational expression .

A–2B
 uses the following values to evaluate the expression :

A = 6 b= 8
Operation resultant
1. A – 2 4
2. Resultant of 1  B false
 Example : evaluating a logical expression .

A AND B OR C AND A
 uses the following values to evaluate the expression :

A = true B = false C = true

Operation resultant
1. A AND B false
2. C AND A true
3. Resultant of 1 OR resultant of 2 true
 Straight-Line Form
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 Algebraic Expressions cannot be represented in the

computer.
 They must be converted to a form the computer will
recognize.
 Thus, Straight Line Form

(X  Y)
Y = (X – Y) / ( (X + Y)^2 / (X – Y )^2 )
(X  Y )2
(X  Y )2 straight line form
 Attachment: ASCII Coding
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