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Flip to reveal answersWhat four questions turn an unfamiliar problem into a solvable one?
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All 5 Flashcards — Applying the concepts
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Question
What four questions turn an unfamiliar problem into a solvable one?
Answer
What are the pieces (decomposition)? What repeats (pattern recognition)? What can I ignore (abstraction)? What are the steps (algorithmic design)? Then trace the steps on a small example by hand.
Question
How is designing a database an example of computational thinking?
Answer
Decomposition splits one wide table into several; abstraction decides which attributes each entity actually needs; pattern recognition notices that every many-to-many relationship needs a linking table.
Question
Where does abstraction matter most in machine learning?
Answer
In choosing which features to give the model and which to leave out. It is usually the single most important decision in a machine-learning project.
Question
Why trace an algorithm by hand before writing code?
Answer
Because it turns a plausible-looking algorithm into one you know is right, and it finds the error before any code exists to debug. It is also very often exactly what the exam asks for.
Question
Why does Paper 2 set a question with no code?
Answer
To test whether you can take a problem described in words and make it solvable without reaching for a programming language — which is what computational thinking means.
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Full study notes for Applying the concepts
Topic 5.1 hub
Computational thinking
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Computer Science exam skills
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