Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The divide-and-conquer paradigm is often used to find an optimal solution of a problem. Its basic idea is to decompose a given problem into two or more similar, but simpler, subproblems, to solve them in turn, and to compose their solutions to solve the given problem. Problems of sufficient simplicity are solved directly.
For example, the problem of factoring "Given a positive integer n, find a nontrivial prime factor of n." is a computational problem that has a solution, as there are many known integer factorization algorithms. A computational problem can be viewed as a set of instances or cases together with a, possibly empty, set of solutions for every ...
Long division is the standard algorithm used for pen-and-paper division of multi-digit numbers expressed in decimal notation. It shifts gradually from the left to the right end of the dividend, subtracting the largest possible multiple of the divisor (at the digit level) at each stage; the multiples then become the digits of the quotient, and the final difference is then the remainder.
A Sudoku starts with some cells containing numbers (clues), and the goal is to solve the remaining cells. Proper Sudokus have one solution. [1] Players and investigators use a wide range of computer algorithms to solve Sudokus, study their properties, and make new puzzles, including Sudokus with interesting symmetries and other properties.
An example of a decision problem is deciding with the help of an algorithm whether a given natural number is prime. Another example is the problem, "given two numbers x and y, does x evenly divide y?" A method for solving a decision problem, given in the form of an algorithm, is called a decision procedure for that problem.
A related problem, somewhat similar to the Birthday paradox, is that of determining the size of the input set so that we have a probability of one half that there is a solution, under the assumption that each element in the set is randomly selected with uniform distribution between 1 and some given value. The solution to this problem can be ...
Animated example of multi-digit long division. A divisor of any number of digits can be used. In this example, 1260257 is to be divided by 37. First the problem is set up as follows: 37)1260257 Digits of the number 1260257 are taken until a number greater than or equal to 37 occurs. So 1 and 12 are less than 37, but 126 is greater.
For example, using single-precision IEEE arithmetic, if x = −2 −149, then x/2 underflows to −0, and dividing 1 by this result produces 1/(x/2) = −∞. The exact result −2 150 is too large to represent as a single-precision number, so an infinity of the same sign is used instead to indicate overflow.