Dr. Ecco is a mathematical wizard who uses logic and computer programming to solve crimes, find treasures, and explore space. Join his team, expand the frontiers of knowledge, and match wits with him on intriguing cases like "The Virus from the Spy" and "The Secrets of Space" and "The Caribou and the Gas."
Algorithmic puzzles are puzzles involving well-defined procedures for solving problems. This book will provide an enjoyable and accessible introduction to algorithmic puzzles that will develop the reader's algorithmic thinking. The first part of this book is a tutorial on algorithm design strategies and analysis techniques. Algorithm design strategies — exhaustive search, backtracking, divide-and-conquer and a few others — are general approaches to designing step-by-step instructions for solving problems. Analysis techniques are methods for investigating such procedures to answer questions about the ultimate result of the procedure or how many steps are executed before the procedure stops. The discussion is an elementary level, with puzzle examples, and requires neither programming nor mathematics beyond a secondary school level. Thus, the tutorial provides a gentle and entertaining introduction to main ideas in high-level algorithmic problem solving. The second and main part of the book contains 150 puzzles, from centuries-old classics to newcomers often asked during job interviews at computing, engineering, and financial companies. The puzzles are divided into three groups by their difficulty levels. The first fifty puzzles in the Easier Puzzles section require only middle school mathematics. The sixty puzzle of average difficulty and forty harder puzzles require just high school mathematics plus a few topics such as binary numbers and simple recurrences, which are reviewed in the tutorial. All the puzzles are provided with hints, detailed solutions, and brief comments. The comments deal with the puzzle origins and design or analysis techniques used in the solution. The book should be of interest to puzzle lovers, students and teachers of algorithm courses, and persons expecting to be given puzzles during job interviews.
Join math detective in solving nearly 40 puzzles inspired by methods in computer science and mathematics. The Tower of Lego, Odd Doors Problem, Spies and Double Agents, many more. Solutions.
Out of their minds and the force of their imagination, men have created countless beings, from demons and monsters of legend to comic-strip characters. What if their world were real - if dragons, devils and Don Quixote hobnobbed with Dagwood Bumstead and Charlie Brown? Such a world would have its fascinations . . . and its dreadful perils - if it existed. Horton Smith found out that it did - and that he was right in the middle of it!
This monograph is a technical survey of concepts and techniques for describing and analyzing large-scale time-series data streams. Some topics covered are algorithms for query by humming, gamma-ray burst detection, pairs trading, and density detection. Included are self-contained descriptions of wavelets, fast Fourier transforms, and sketches as they apply to time-series analysis. Detailed applications are built on a solid scientific basis.
The heroic Dr. Ecco uncovers a fiendish plot in this collection of original puzzles inspired by research methods of computer science and mathematics. No sophisticated mathematical background necessary. Solutions.
Hours of recreational reckoning. Collected and enhanced from Dennis Shasha's popular Scientific American column, here are thirty-six of the most innovative and emotive mathematical puzzles ever to appear in its pages. Edgy, challenging and representing the ultimate in recreational mathematical games, Puzzling Adventures dares the reader to work out the logic underlying venture fund investments, escape a Minotaur, catch a polar bear, play power politics, work out if a witness is lying, spy on contraband traders and verify DNA. An encrypted set of stories and commentary float above the puzzles. They need decrypting to discover their hints. The hints lead to a surprise—if the reader can work them out.
