Space Explorer: The Way Back Home

Posted on July 8, 2024 by Administrator Posted in Coding Quiz, Computer Science, GCSE Concepts, Quizzes

You are onboard a spaceship lost in a distant galaxy, far far away from planet Earth. Your aim is to return to planet Earth by using teleportation gates (black holes) to jump from one galaxy to another until you can reach planet Earth. Follow the instructions given to locate these black holes. But be aware, space is a dangerous environment. If you fail to follow the given instructions or if you hit an asteroid or a planet, your shape ship will be lost in space forever!

To complete this activity you will need to use the arrow keys on your keyboard to go North, East, South or West.

Click on the picture below to access this activity.

The Lost Treasures of Pirate Island

Posted on June 26, 2024 by Administrator Posted in Algorithms, Algorithms (GCSE), Coding Quiz, Computer Science, GCSE Quiz, Quizzes

Be the captain of your own pirate ship and sail the seven seas to find the 32 lost treasures of pirate island. Follow the instructions given to locate these treasures. But be aware, the sea is dangerous and its storms can be terrible. If you fail to follow the given instructions or if you hit a rock or an island, your ship will sink to the bottom of the deep blue sea!

To complete this activity you will need to use the arrow keys on your keyboard to go North, East, South or West.

Click on the picture below to access this activity.

Cryptic Puzzles – Computer Networks

Posted on May 24, 2024 by Administrator Posted in Computer Science, GCSE Quiz, Quizzes, Solved Challenges

Before attempting to solve this challenge, you should familiarise yourself with the different types of clues that cryptic definitions can be based on. Effectively, the definitions given in a cryptic crossword, will almost never be a literal meaning of the answer you are looking for. Instead, they will be based on a wordplay. When looking at a definition, you will first need to try to locate the two main hints which are:

An exact definition or synonym, in much the same way as a conventional crossword clue. This can appear either at the start or at the end of the definition.
Some sort of wordplay. There are many different types of wordplay that can be used. Sometimes an indicator term (a specific expression or word) will lead you to the type of wordplay that is being used.

Let’s investigate some of the most common types of cryptic crossword definitions:

Double DefinitionAnagramsAcrosticHidden WordsReversalHomophonesCharadesDeletionCrypticComplex

Double Definition:

When the clue consists of two different meanings of the same answer.
Double Definition

Anagrams:

With these clues you will have to jumble up the letters from the clue to find the answer.
Anagrams

Acrostic:

These sorts of clues means that you will have to take some of the letters (e.g. the first letter of each word, or the last letter, or every odd letter, etc.)
Acrostic Definition

Hidden Words:

When the answer is actually included within the clue itself! you just need to spot it!
Hidden Words

Reversal:

When you need to read a word or expression backwards, from right to left.
Reversal

Homophones:

The answer you have will sound similar to the actual answer you are looking for! You may have to say it out loud to find it!
Homophones

Charades:

Charades will involve joining several parts of words together to get to the final answer.

Deletion:

On occasion you will need to remove one or several letters from the clue to get to the answer.
Deletion

Cryptic Definition:

These can be quite challenging, using a confusing definition sometimes purposefully given in a somewhat misleading way.
Cryptic Definition

Complex Definition:

When you start combining several techniques within the same definition!
Complex Definition

Let’s have a go at solving these cryptic clues all based around Computer Networks terminology:

Solution...

The solution for this challenge is available to full members!
Find out how to become a member:
➤ Members' Area

Computer Science – Cryptic Crossword #02

Posted on May 22, 2024 by Administrator Posted in A Level Quiz, Computer Science, Crosswords, Quizzes, Solved Challenges

Here is our second cryptic crossword for computer scientists! You can access our first cryptic crossword on this page.

Before attempting to solve this challenge, you should familiarise yourself with the different types of clues that the crossword definitions can be based on. Effectively, the definitions given in a cryptic crossword, will almost never be a literal meaning of the answer you are looking for. Instead, they will be based on a wordplay. When looking at a definition, you will first need to try to locate the two main hints which are:

An exact definition or synonym, in much the same way as a conventional crossword clue. This can appear either at the start or at the end of the definition.
Some sort of wordplay. There are many different types of wordplay that can be used. Sometimes an indicator term (a specific expression or word) will lead you to the type of wordplay that is being used.

Let’s investigate some of the most common types of cryptic crossword definitions:

Double DefinitionAnagramsAcrosticHidden WordsReversalHomophonesCharadesDeletionCrypticComplex

Double Definition:

When the clue consists of two different meanings of the same answer.
Double Definition

Anagrams:

With these clues you will have to jumble up the letters from the clue to find the answer.
Anagrams

Acrostic:

These sorts of clues means that you will have to take some of the letters (e.g. the first letter of each word, or the last letter, or every odd letter, etc.)
Acrostic Definition

Hidden Words:

When the answer is actually included within the clue itself! you just need to spot it!
Hidden Words

Reversal:

When you need to read a word or expression backwards, from right to left.
Reversal

Homophones:

The answer you have will sound similar to the actual answer you are looking for! You may have to say it out loud to find it!
Homophones

Charades:

Charades will involve joining several parts of words together to get to the final answer.

Deletion:

On occasion you will need to remove one or several letters from the clue to get to the answer.
Deletion

Cryptic Definition:

These can be quite challenging, using a confusing definition sometimes purposefully given in a somewhat misleading way.
Cryptic Definition

Complex Definition:

When you start combining several techniques within the same definition!
Complex Definition

The following Cryptic Puzzle is based on Computer Science Terminology (from the A Level Computer Science Specification).
Computer Science Cryptic CrosswordOpen Cryptic Crossword Puzzle in a New Window Spoiler alert… You can click below to reveal few tips to help you if you are completely stuck:

Tip #1

At least one definition in this puzzle will require you to use roman numerals

Tip #2

In tennis, the word “love” refers to a score of 0. Therefore, in a cryptic clue, the word love can be replaced with letter O.

Tip #3

In cricket, the word “duck” refers to a score of 0. Therefore, in a cryptic clue, the word love can be replaced with letter O.

Tip #4

In a cryptic puzzle, sailors can be a reference to the Royal Navy!

Tip #5

Extraordinary, broken or engineer are all indicator terms for an anagram definition!

Computer Science Cryptic CrosswordOpen Cryptic Crossword Puzzle in a New Window

Solution...

The solution for this challenge is available to full members!
Find out how to become a member:
➤ Members' Area

Ice Cream Price Calculator

Posted on May 2, 2024 by Administrator Posted in Computer Science, Python - Beginner, Python Challenges, Solved Challenges

Your local ice cream shop would like to set up a touchscreen tablet on the counter for their customers to customise their ice cream order and automatically calculate the cost of their ice cream.

Here are the options available when ordering an ice cream:

The new system will need a computer program to let the customer pick up their options for their ice cream. The customer should be able to specify:

served in a cup or on a cone

How many scoops

add a flake

chocolate sprinkle

strawberry coulis

Based on the user inputs and the price list provided above, the system should automatically calculate and display the total price of the chosen ice cream.

Step 1: Draw a Flowchart for your algorithm

Before attempting to complete the code for this task, grab a piece of paper and draw the flowchart to identify the key inputs, decisions and calculations for your algorithm.

Alternatively, you can also create your flowchart online:
Flowchart Studio

Step 2: Complete the Python Code

Complete the Python code below.

Step 3: Add validation checks

To make your program more robust, add some validation rules on your inputs so that:

You can find out more about implementing validation checks in Python using this page (input validation tab).

Step 4: Test Plan

Once your code is complete, test it using the following test plan to make sure all your calculations are correct!

Test #	Input Values	Expected Output	Pass / Fail
#1	Container: Cone Number of Scoops: 2 Toppings: Chocolate sprinkle	Ice Cream Price: £3.10
#2	Container: Cup Number of Scoops: 3 Toppings: Flake and Strawberry Coulis	Ice Cream Price: £4.50
#3	Container: Cup Number of Scoops: 6 Toppings: None	Please enter a number of scoops between 1 and 4
#4	Container: Cup Number of Scoops: 1 Toppings: None	Ice Cream Price: £1.50

Solution...

The solution for this challenge is available to full members!
Find out how to become a member:
➤ Members' Area

Revision Progress Tracker Algorithm

Posted on May 1, 2024 by Administrator Posted in Computer Science, Python - Intermediate, Python Challenges, Solved Challenges

It’s nearly the end of the school year and you have started to revise for your Computer Science end of year exam. To help you keep track of your revision, you have decided to write a computer program to calculate the percentage of revision that you have already completed.

This program will:

Store a list of all the topics you need to revise to get ready for your exam
For each topic in this list, ask you if you have completed the revision on this topic (Yes / No question)
Use your answers to calculate a percentage score of your progress so far using the following formula:

Flowchart

Your algorithm will be based on the following flowchart:

Python Code

Your Task is to complete the code for this algorithm!

Extension Task

Could you amend this code to read the list of topics from a CSV file instead of having these stored within the code itself. This would allow you to store a list of topics for different subjects and ask at the start of the program, which subject to track the progress of.

Solution...

The solution for this challenge is available to full members!
Find out how to become a member:
➤ Members' Area

Tagged with: Flowchart

Search Engine Indexing… In your own words…

Posted on May 1, 2024 by Administrator Posted in A Level Concepts, A Level Quiz, Computer Science, Solved Challenges

Before completing this task, you will need to revise how search engine indexing works and how the page rank algorithm is used to decide which pages should appear at the top of your search results when using a search engine like Google.

You task is to write a description in your books or on the space provided below to describe, in your own words, how search engine indexing works and to describe the underlying principles of page rank algorithms used by search engines.

Search Engine Indexing and Page Rank Algorithm… in your own words!

Describe in your books or on the space provided below to describe, in your own words, how search engine indexing works and to describe the underlying principles of page rank algorithms used by search engines.

Word Count: 0

Solution...

The solution for this challenge is available to full members!
Find out how to become a member:
➤ Members' Area

Average Lap Time Calculator

Posted on April 30, 2024 by Administrator Posted in Computer Science, Python - Intermediate, Python Challenges, Solved Challenges

An Athletics club is planning to create an app to record the lap time of different runners during a 400 x 4 relay race. Their app will capture and store the names of the runners involved in the relay race and record the lap times of each runner.

Their app will then be used to generate more information using the recorded data such as:

The overall time it took for the runners to complete the relay race.
The average lap time calculated using the recorded lap times of each runner.

In the code provided below, you will find that the names and lap times of each runner are stored in the code using two lists called names and times.

runners = ["Alina","Rafael","Sid","Suraya"]
times = ["1:24","1:45","1:33","1:39"]

In the times list, lap times are expressed in minutes:seconds. For instance Alina completed her lap in 1 minute and 24 seconds whereas Rafael completed his lap in 1 minute and 45 seconds.

Then the following code is used to loop through each values in each list to display the lap time of each runner.

#Retrieve the number of runners involved in the race (e.g. 4)
numberOfRunners = len(runners)  

for i in range(0,numberOfRunners):
  print(runners[i] + " completed a lap in " + times[i])

Your Task

Your task will be to complete the code provided below so that your Python program automatically calculates the overall time it took these 4 runners to complete the 4 x 400m relay to then work out the average lap time amongst these four runners. Make sure the overall time and the average time are given in the minutes:seconds format.

Tip?

Revealing this tip is optional! Only reveal it if you are not sure how to get started with this task!

View Tip!

To complete this task, you will first need to convert the given lap times in seconds. For instance a lap time of 1:24 means that the lap was completed in 60 + 24 = 84 seconds.

So in the for loop provided we can easily work out the lap time of each runner in seconds as follows:

for i in range(0,numberOfRunners):
  print(runners[i] + " completed a lap in " + times[i])  
  
  #convert lap time in a number of seconds
  data = times[i].split(":")
  minutes = int(data[0])
  seconds = int(data[1])
  lapTime = minutes * 60 + seconds
  
  print(runners[i] + " completed a lap in " + str(laptime) + "seconds")

Python Code

Complete the code below…

Solution...

The solution for this challenge is available to full members!
Find out how to become a member:
➤ Members' Area

Return On Investment Calculator

Posted on April 25, 2024 by Administrator Posted in Computer Science, Python - Beginner, Python Challenges, Solved Challenges

A group of students have setup a young enterprise at the start of the year and are now evaluating how successful their business was.

One approach to evaluate the profitability of a business is to calculate both the profit (or loss) and the Return On Investment (ROI) of the business.

To perform these calculations the business will need to provide the following information:

How much money was invested in the business. (e.g. total costs)
How much money was gained by the business. (e.g. total sales)

The profit or loss can be calculated as follows:

If the costs exceed the sales, your business will have made a loss (a negative profit!)

The Return On Investment (ROI) tells you how much money you get back for every pound you spent. It’s expressed as a percentage value.

For example, a ROI of 20% indicates that for every £1 spent, the business has raised £1,20.
An ROI of 100% means that you have doubled your investment (for every £1 spent, you have raised £2).

The formula to calcuate the ROI of a business is as follows:

Python Challenge

Write a computer program to evaluate the performance of a business. Your program will ask the user to input:

The total amount spent/invested on the business: Total costs
The total amount raised by the business: Total sales

Your program will then calculate and display the profit made by the business and indicate whether the business made a profit or a loss.
Your program will then calculate and display the Return On Investment (ROI) of the business as a percentage value.

Before attempting to write the code for this task, you may consider designing a flowchart to identify the key steps of your algorithm:
Flowchart Studio

Python Code

Your task is to complete the code below…

Test Plan

Business Name: PixelArt
Description: PixelArt is a business selling T-Shirts with a unique AI generated design printed on the back of the T-Shirt.
The main costs of the business have been to buy a stock of T-Shirts (£300). An extra £150 was also spent for running costs, stationary, packaging and advertising materials.
The business was quite successful and managed to sell all their T-shirts generating a total revenue of £1,250.

Test #	Input Values	Expected Output	Pass / Fail
#1	Total Costs: £450 Total Sales: £1250	Profit: £800 ROI: 178%

Business Name: Podcast-101
Description: Podcast-101 is a business that produces short audio clips (jingles, radio adverts, podcasts) for their customers.
The main costs of the business have been to buy some audio recording equipment and audio editing software licenses. The business also spent some money on a social media campaign to advertise their service. In total the business invested £550 to cover all these costs.
The business did attract a few customers and created a range of radio adverts and podcasts. They generated a total income of £940.

Test #	Input Values	Expected Output	Pass / Fail
#2	Total Costs: £550 Total Sales: £940	Profit: £390 ROI: 71%

Setting up your own Young Enterprise…

Would you be interested in setting up a Young Enterprise in your school and compete against other Young Enterprises across the UK? Find out more about the Young Enterprise scheme on: https://www.young-enterprise.org.uk/

Solution...

The solution for this challenge is available to full members!
Find out how to become a member:
➤ Members' Area

Storage Units Conversions – Quiz

Posted on April 17, 2024 by Administrator Posted in Computer Science, Computing Concepts, GCSE Concepts, GCSE Quiz, Quizzes

The following diagram is a quick recap of the main storage units used to estimate the size of a file or the storage capacity of a storing device.

Spider bots	Crawl	24/7
Webpage	Scan/parse	HTML code
Index	Database	Keywords
URL	Page Rank Score	Hyperlinks
Formula	Inbound links	outbound links
Search results	Sort	Additional parameters:
Meta tags	Encryption (HTTPS)	Loading Time

Learning Zone ✕

Theory Concepts

Interactive Quizzes

GCSE Computer Science (UK)

A-Level Computer Science (UK)

Coding Challenges ✕

Python Challenges

HTML / CSS & JavaScript

LMC

SQL

Block Programming

Interactive Coding Puzzles

Online Interactive Tools ✕

Coding Tools

Design Tools

Logic Gates Circuits

Cryptography Corner

Member's Area ✕

Register/Sign Up

Get In Touch

Books Corner

Double Definition:

Anagrams:

Acrostic:

Hidden Words:

Reversal:

Homophones:

Charades:

Deletion:

Cryptic Definition:

Complex Definition:

Solution...

Double Definition:

Anagrams:

Acrostic:

Hidden Words:

Reversal:

Homophones:

Charades:

Deletion:

Cryptic Definition:

Complex Definition:

Solution...

Step 1: Draw a Flowchart for your algorithm

Step 2: Complete the Python Code

Step 3: Add validation checks

Step 4: Test Plan

Solution...

Flowchart

Python Code

Extension Task

Solution...

Solution...

Your Task

Tip?

Python Code

Solution...

Python Challenge

Python Code

Test Plan

Setting up your own Young Enterprise…

Solution...

Take the Quiz! (open full screen)

Recent Posts

Our Latest Book