Component parts of a problem: processes

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Date:

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Quick Questions

Shade in the A or B circle for each question.

1. Which of these is a PROCESS in a quiz program?

A Typing in the student's name on the keyboard

B Adding up the marks to get a total score

2. A school canteen program checks whether a pupil's balance is below £2. What is this?

A A process: comparing a value with a limit

B An output: showing a value on the screen

3. Which statement about processes is correct?

A A process is data the user types into the solution

B A process works on data the solution already has

4. A program puts a list of 30 test scores into order from highest to lowest. What is this?

A Process: sorting

B Storage: sorting

5. Which is the better process to list for a program that finds a pupil's mark in a list of results?

A Searching the list for the pupil's name

B Displaying the pupil's mark on the screen

Match the Pairs

Draw a line connecting each item on the left to its match on the right.

Left column		Right column
1total ← price * quantity		AShowing the total on screen is an output, not a process. Calculating the total is the process.
2IF score >= limit THEN		BA process that calculates a total by multiplying two stored values
3A process that adds up values to calculate a running total		CIF speed > 60 THEN
4A process that checks whether a value is over a limit		Dtotal ← total + mark
5Processes: name, age, score		EThese are inputs (data), not processes. A process is an action such as adding, comparing or sorting.
6Process: OUTPUT total		FA process that compares a value with a limit to make a decision

Definitions

process

Fill in the Blanks

Complete each line of code by filling in the missing parts.

Total ← Total _ Price

IF Speed _ Limit THEN OUTPUT "Too fast" ENDIF

FOR Count ← 1 TO 5 Total ← Total + Mark ____ Count

IF Name = Target THEN Found ← ____ ENDIF

Temp ← A A ← B B ← ____

Spot the Error

Shade in the letter of the line that contains an error.

Question 1

A total ← 0

B FOR i ← 1 TO 5

C INPUT mark

D total ← mark

E NEXT i

Question 2

A IF speed < limit THEN

B OUTPUT "Too fast"

C ENDIF

Question 3

A count ← 0

B FOR i ← 1 TO 10

C IF score[i] ← 50 THEN

D count ← count + 1

E ENDIF

F NEXT i

Question 4

A total ← 1

B FOR i ← 1 TO 4

C total ← total + price[i]

D NEXT i

E OUTPUT total

Question 5

A found ← FALSE

B FOR i ← 1 UNTIL 10

C IF name[i] = target THEN

D found ← TRUE

E ENDIF

F NEXT i

Answer Key

Component parts of a problem: processes

Section A: Quick Questions

B — Adding up the marks to get a total score

A — A process: comparing a value with a limit

B — A process works on data the solution already has

A — Process: sorting

A — Searching the list for the pupil's name

Section B: Match the Pairs

total ← price * quantity → A process that calculates a total by multiplying two stored values

IF score >= limit THEN → A process that compares a value with a limit to make a decision

A process that adds up values to calculate a running total → total ← total + mark

A process that checks whether a value is over a limit → IF speed > 60 THEN

Processes: name, age, score → These are inputs (data), not processes. A process is an action such as adding, comparing or sorting.

Process: OUTPUT total → Showing the total on screen is an output, not a process. Calculating the total is the process.

Section C: Definitions

process — An action or calculation a solution carries out on its data, such as adding a total, comparing a value with a limit, sorting or searching, or making a decision.

Section D: Fill in the Blanks

Total ← Total + Price

IF Speed > Limit THEN
   OUTPUT "Too fast"
ENDIF

FOR Count ← 1 TO 5
   Total ← Total + Mark
NEXT Count

IF Name = Target THEN
   Found ← TRUE
ENDIF

Temp ← A
A ← B
B ← Temp

Section E: Spot the Error

D — Calculating a total is a process. Each loop must ADD the new mark to the running total (total ← total + mark). Writing total ← mark overwrites the total every time.

A — Comparing a value with a limit is a process. The warning should show when speed is greater than the limit, so the test must be speed > limit, not speed < limit.

C — The ← symbol is for assignment, not comparison. The process compares each score with the pass mark, so it needs a comparison operator such as score[i] >= 50.

A — The total must start at 0 before the adding process begins. Starting at 1 makes the final total wrong by 1.

B — A searching process checks each item in a loop. A FOR loop uses the keyword TO, so it should be FOR i ← 1 TO 10.