Problem solving encompasses a number of techniques known as algorithms, heuristics, root cause analysis, etc.
Questions tagged [problem-solving]
89 questions
43
votes
12 answers
Is thinking out loud during an interview really the best strategy?
In another question I asked recently about best practices for whiteboarding, there was general consensus that thinking out loud while coming up with the answer was the best strategy.
Indeed, long moments of silence are awkward.
However after recent…
Bjorn
- 737
30
votes
13 answers
Is "White-Board-Coding" inappropriate during interviews?
This is a somewhat subjective quesiton but I'd love to hear feedback/opinions from either interviewers/interviewees on the topic.
We split our technical interview into 4 parts. Write Code, Read & Analyse Code, Design Session & Code on the white…
Eoin Campbell
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13
votes
10 answers
Should I be worried if I solve a lot of my problems the same way?
I really enjoy programming games and puzzle creators/games. I find myself engineering a lot of these problems the same way and ultimately using similar technique to program them that I'm really comfortable with.
To give you brief insight, I like to…
Nayrb
- 2,504
12
votes
10 answers
How to learn/become capable of thinking out of the box?
In every problem solving there's always people who think differently, who come with a 6th option when only 5 were suggested by others, who think "out of the box". Please tell how one can achieve such ability? And what it takes to achieve it?
Denys S.
- 621
9
votes
6 answers
Is it important for a solution to be an efficient one?
I solve many problems, mostly from Top Coder. I will get answers for many, but most times I end up with an inefficient solution.
In real-world implementations - does it really matter that a solution to the problem is efficient? If so how I can…
Ant's
- 732
5
votes
4 answers
Approach to a programming task
All,
Given a problem statement, when I start of with the analysis and design, I tend to think too much about the various functionalities associated with the task (sometimes not even mentioned in the task). My point is, I get diverted from the main…
name_masked
- 289
- 2
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2
votes
1 answer
Solving a probabilistic problem
So I am interested in Computational Investing and came across this problem on a wiki page:
Write a program to discover the answer to this puzzle:"Let's say men
and women are paid equally (from the same uniform distribution). If
women date…
Quaxton Hale
- 125
1
vote
2 answers
How do I have a group of numbers which total does not exceed a limit, and each number must be >= 0?
Suppose I have an array of n numbers. The rules for the array is as below:
All the numbers must add up to 1000
If a number changes (positive or negative), all the other numbers in the array must be adjusted so that the sum of the array is still…
Extrakun
- 979
1
vote
3 answers
Are problem-solving programming questions useful for improving one's general programming ability?
For example, like:
The inaugural International Olympiad in Frogleaping is being held in Australia in 2013 and you are determined to win. While you want nothing to do with such slimy, jumpy creatures, you plan to enter a frog-like robot that you…
Zerium
- 403
1
vote
1 answer
Idea of the binary search main theorem
This link really provided some insights into the idea that binary search implications into the optimization problems by giving the main theorem. I am not really confident that I get the idea of the main theorem suggested there. Are there any easy…
user1369975
- 1,279
1
vote
4 answers
How can I find the root of confusing problems?
Several times after posting over at Stack Overflow, I have found that the problem I have is somewhat specific, and may have issues rooted elsewhere in my code. These are very difficult to solve with a question, and I often end up getting poor or…
Jumhyn
- 162
-2
votes
1 answer
Permutations of an array
I have an array of integers of length 20, filled with fourteen 0s, two 1s, two 2s and two 3s. It is like this:
[0,0,0,3,0,2,0,0,3,0,0,0,1,0,2,0,0,1,0,0].
I need a way to list all of its 20!/(14! 2! 2! 2!) permutations, without repetitions. (Note…
Matteo
- 119
-2
votes
1 answer
Any tips in tackling extremely complex problems like the Hanoi Tower problem?
People often give me the "divide and conquer" tip, but I think for some problems it's not nearly enough. The problem with such a complex problem as the Hanoi Tower problem is that you can't even simulate or abstract parts of the problems even if you…
John Locke
- 25
-3
votes
2 answers
Why are assumptions important when defining a puzzle?
in this question OP has presented a site where some puzzle are available. He described the problem about solving them. I was curious is that really so problematic. The first one was really easy, so I tried next one this time from the end that should…
