The Essence of Computational Problem Solving

The Essence of Computational Problem Solving

What Is Computer Science?

  • Computer science is fundamentally about computational problem solving.

 

The Essence of Computational Problem Solving

  • Computational problem solving is the method of using computation to systematically break down complex problems into manageable components that can be represented and manipulated by a computer. 
  • This approach involves two essential components: representation and algorithms.

Representation

Representation is the method of abstracting the problem to capture all relevant details while omitting irrelevant ones.

Algorithm

An algorithm consists of a finite number of clearly described unambiguous "doable" steps that can be systematically followed to produce a desired result for given input within a finite amount of time.

Brute force approach 

Trying all possible solutions to a given problem is referred to as a Brute force approach 

The Traveling Salesman problem is a classic computational problem in computer science. The problem is to find the shortest route of travel for a salesman needing to visit a given set of cities.