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Knowledge/A Level/H446/02 Algorithms and programming/Computational Methods/Problem recognition

Problem recognition

Problem recognition.

2.2.2 Computational Methods

Computational Methods — Note 2 of 6

Candidates need to be able to recognise a problem from a description of a scenario.

What you need to know

Problem recognition means identifying from a description that a problem exists, what exactly it is, and whether it is similar to problems that have already been solved.

What to know

  • Identify the stakeholders, their needs and what a successful solution must achieve.
  • Recognise similarities with known problems so existing solutions or algorithms can be reused (e.g. recognising a route-finding problem as a shortest path problem).
  • Recognising the problem correctly ensures time is not wasted solving the wrong problem.

Key terms

Problem recognition

Identifying that there is a problem to solve, and what the problem actually is, from a description of a situation.

Exam technique

  • Tip:Use the details in the scenario to state the problem precisely, before suggesting a solution.
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Back to Computational Methods

Computational Methods

Note 2 of 6

  1. 1Features that make a problem solvable by computational methods
  2. 2Problem recognition
  3. 3Problem decomposition
  4. 4Use of divide and conquer
  5. 5Use of abstraction
  6. 6Backtracking, data mining, heuristics, performance modelling, pipelining and visualisation
Topic overview