Guess Who

Posted on September 29, 2015 by Administrator Posted in Coding Quiz, Computer Science, Computing Concepts

Did You Know?

The aim of the “Guess Who” game is to look at a list of character cards and to ask “Yes/No” questions to progressively eliminate cards from the set by flipping them down. At the end of the game there should only be one card still standing up. The aim is to find this card by eliminating all the others.

Learning Objectives

By Completing this challenge you will understand more about the use of boolean logic when using selection statements (if statements).

Before completing this challenge, remember that:

== and != are comparison operators,
== means “is equal to?”,
!= means “is not equal to?”, aka “is different from?”
Other comparison operators can be used in selection statements such as >, <, <=, >=, but we will not use these in this challenge,
AND and OR are boolean operators,
The result of a comparison is a boolean, which means it’s either True or False.

Now let’s look at our set of seven “Guess Who” cards: Click on a card to flip it.

Round #1:

Look at the pseudo-code below to find out who is on the remaining card:

if gender == "Male" AND wearsGlasses == True:
	flipCardDown()
if hairColor == "Black" OR hairColor == "Blonde":
	flipCardDown()
if gender == "Female" AND wearsHat != True:
	flipCardDown()

print("All cards have now been flipped down but one. Who is on the remaining card?")

Not sure? Check the solution by clicking on the card below:

Round #2:

Look at the pseudo-code below to find out who is on the remaining card:

if hasBeard == True OR wearsHelmet == True:
	flipCardDown()
if wearsEarings == True AND wearsNecklace == True:
	flipCardDown()
if hairColor == "Brown" OR gender == "Male":
	flipCardDown()

print("All cards have now been flipped down but one. Who is on the remaining card?")

Not sure? Check the solution by clicking on the card below:

Round #3:

Look at the pseudo-code below to find out who is on the remaining card:

if hairColor == "Blonde" OR hairColor == "Brown":
	flipCardDown()
if wearsGlasses == True OR wearsHat == True:
	flipCardDown()

print("All cards have now been flipped down but one. Who is on the remaining card?")

Not sure? Check the solution by clicking on the card below:

Round #4:

Look at the pseudo-code below to find out who is on the remaining card:

if eyeColor != "Blue" AND gender == "Female":
	flipCardDown()
if wearsHat == True OR wearsHelmet == True:
	flipCardDown()
if wearsGlasses == True:
	flipCardDown()
if wearsTie == True :
	flipCardDown()

print("All cards have now been flipped down but one. Who is on the remaining card?")

Not sure? Check the solution by clicking on the card below:

Round #5: Your Turn!

Select one of the character and create your own pseudo-code. Ask one of your classmate to guess which card you picked by analysing your pseudo-code.

Type your pseudo-code in the textbox below:
# Round 5

Tagged with: Boolean Operators, Selection

Live Metrics

Posted on September 29, 2015 by Administrator Posted in Computer Science, Python - Intermediate, Python Challenges, Solved Challenges

First let’s have a look at the following two webpages…

Our Challenge

In this challenge we are going to write our own Python scripts to generate live metrics.

Let’s look at our first fact:

Every second, on average 10,260 tweets are tweeted on Twitter.

And check the Python script to make transform this fact into a “live metrics program”.

Task #1:

Update the code above to create “live metrics” from the following facts:

On average 1,200 photos are posted on Instagram every second.

On average 98,000 youtube videos are viewed every second.

Google now processes over 107,000 search queries every second on average.

Task #2:

Around 80 million cars are produced in a single year worldwide.

To create a live metrics program based on this fact you will first need to use Python to calculate the number of cars produced in one second.

Task #3:

The current world population is estimated at: 7,985,000,000 human beings.
It is currently growing at a rate of around 1.05 % per year.

To create a live metrics program based on this fact you will first need to use Python to calculate the population growth (in human beings) in one second.

Solution...

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

Tagged with: iteration, Python, While Loops

How eco-friendly are you?

Posted on September 29, 2015 by Administrator Posted in Computer Science, Python - Beginner, Python Challenges, Solved Challenges

It would not be hot news for you to hear that throughout your everyday life, whatever you do, you are having an impact on the environment. Words like pollution, global warming, carbon dioxide, recycling, energy saving, waste reduction are no mystery to you.

For this challenge you are going to design a quiz that people can take to find out how green or eco-friendly they are. The quiz will consist of eight questions and will be used to give the end-user a score.

Here are the eight questions for the quiz.

How do you come to school?
- By Car (-50pts)
- By Bus (-10pts)
- On Foot (+100pts)
- Cycling (+100pts)
Did you travel by plane in the last 12 months?
- No (+100pts)
- Yes once (-25pts)
- Yes twice (-50pts)
- At least 3 times (-100pts)
Do you use your recycling bins at home?
- Never (-50pts)
- Rarely (+10pts)
- Often (+50pts)
- Yes every day (+100pts)
When you go shopping do you?
- Bring your own reusable carrier bags (+20pts)
- Ask for plastic bags (-20pts)
At home do you use Energy saving bulbs?
- Yes (+30pts)
- No (-30pts)
When you clean your teeth, do you let the water run?
- Yes (-30pts)
- Sometimes (-10pts)
- No, never (+20pts)
Is your house equipped with solar panels?
- Yes (+100pts)
- No (0pt)
When it’s getting a bit colder at the end of the summer do you?
- Put an extra layer on (e.g. jumper, extra blanket) (+50pts)
- Turn the heater on? (-50pts)

At the end of the quiz, the user will be told what is their score and what category they belong to amongst these four categories:

Score	Category
Negative score (<0)	Amber
Between 0 and 100	Light Green
Between 101 and 200	Emerald Green
Above 200	Deep Green

Let’s get coding

We have started the code for you but only completed the first question. Your task consists of:

Completing the code to ask all seven questions,
Giving the user their final score and the category they belong to (Amber, Light Green, Emerald Green or Deep Green) based on their final score.

Solution...

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

Tagged with: Selection

My Library

Posted on September 27, 2015 by Administrator Posted in Computer Science, Python - Intermediate, Python Challenges, Solved Challenges

For this challenge you will work for the librarian who needs a computer program to help pupils find out where books can be found in the library.

The library contains nine bookshleves labelled from A to I. Each bookshelf specialises in one genre. For instance, bookshelf A is for comedy fiction books.

Below is the list of bookshelves and genres:

Your Task:

Your task is to write a computer program that asks the user if they are looking for a fiction or a non-fiction book. Based on the user answer the program will ask the user to choose the genre from a list of available genres. Finally the program will return the location (A to I) of books of this genre.

Learning Objectives

By completing this challenge you will use selection statements (if, elif and else). You will also use nested constructs by having if statements within if statements.

When using if statements you have to indent your code as follows:

Let’s get coding

We have started the code for you but this code is incomplete: Can you complete the code to cater for all nine genres?

Extension Task:

The Science and Technology section of the library is growing. The librarian decides to have five sub-sections for this section as follows:

H1: Biology Books
H2: Physics Books
H3: Chemistry Books
H4: Computer Science Books
H5: Design & Technology Books

Extend your code further to include these five subcategories in your algorithm. (See below for a full list of all the required genres.)

To do so you will need to indent your code further as follows. This is called nested indentation:

Solution...

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

Tagged with: Python Challenge, Selection

The Legend of the Secret Key

Posted on September 22, 2015 by Administrator Posted in Computer Science, Computing Concepts, Cryptography, Python - Beginner, Python Challenges

The legend of the secret key is based around King Richard II, King of England. In 1399, Richard II decided to hide his treasure in a treasure chest and used four keys to lock his treasure chest.

He asked his finest locksmith to design four unique keys. He then locked his treasure chest and threw away the four keys in a fire and watched them melt down.

For more than 600 years the treasure chest has been kept in a secret location and has not yet been opened. Nobody has ever been able to create the four keys to open the treasure chest.

Recently, historians from Cambridge University found a piece of parchment and a letter signed by Richard II’s locksmith. In this letter he explains that when they were made, each key was given a unique code and that these codes were all what was needed to recreate the keys.

On the parchment, historians found a rough drawing of each key and the code for three of the keys. The code for the fourth key is no longer readable.

Looking at the codes of the first three keys, will you be able to find out the code for the fourth key?

If you find the code, test it in the trinket below to see if it gives you the right key:

Tagged with: cryptography

Number based brainteasers

Posted on September 21, 2015 by Administrator Posted in Computer Science, Python - Intermediate, Python Challenges

In this collection of challenges you are going to manipulate numbers and perform basic arithmetic operations with numbers as well as use string manipulation techniques to format numbers.

Challenge #1: Square Number

ChallengeSolutionLearning Outcome?

Write a program that prompts the user to enter a number and returns (displays on screen) the square of this number (e.g. by multiplying this number by itself or by raising this number to the power of 2).

number = int(input("Type a number:"))
squareNumber = number * number
print("The Square Number is " + str(squareNumber))

Notice the need to be able to convert a user input from a string to an integer using the int() function on line 1.

Converting a user input to an integer is required to do some maths based calculations such as the calculation used on line 2.

Vice versa, we can convert an integer to a string using the str() function on line 3.

Challenge #2: Total 100

ChallengeSolutionLearning Outcome?

Write a program that prompts the user to enter a number between 0 and 100. The program should return the number that needs to be added to reach 100. For instance if the user enters 36, the program should return 64 because 36 + 64 = 100.

number = int(input("Type a number:"))
total100 = 100 - number
print("The Total 100 Number is " + str(total100))

Once again notice the use of the int() function on line 1 to convert a user input to an integer and the str() function on line 3 to convert an integer to a string.

Challenge #3: Odd or Even?

ChallengeSolutionLearning Outcome?

Write a program that prompts the user to enter a number and returns whether this number is an odd number or an even number. (tip: A number is even if the remainder of dividing this number by two is null). So, in Python if number % 2 = 0 then this number is even otherwise it is odd.

number = int(input("Type a number:"))
if (number % 2) == 0:
  print("This number is even.")
else:
  print("This number is odd.")

In Python the % operator is used to calculate the remainder of a division. This is very useful here to find out if a number can be divided by 2 (even number) or not (odd number).

Challenge #4: Telephone Number

ChallengeSolutionLearning Outcome?

Ask the user to enter their telephone number using 11 digits. Format this number as follows (xxxx) xxx xxx. For instance if the user types 01473123456, the program output should be (01473) 123 456

number = input("Type your telephone number usin 11 digits:")
telephoneNumber = "("  + number[0:5] + ") " + number[5:8] + " " + number[8:11]
print(telephoneNumber)

In Python it is easy to slice a string to extract certain characters. This is done by using the following approach: using the square brackets on a string: e.g. string[startingPosition:endPosition] will retrieve all the characters of the string between the startingPostion and the endPosition.

Notice that in this challenge we are treating the user input as a string not a number. (We did not convert the user input on line 1 to an integer as we did in previous challenges using the int() function.) Each digit of our number/string is in fact a character from the string.

Challenge #5: Palindrome

ChallengeSolutionLearning Outcome?

Ask the user to enter any large number (e.g. at least 3 digits long). The program should return the palindrome of this number. For instance if the user enters 123 the program should return 123321.

number = input("Type a large number:")
palindrome = ""

for digit in number:
  palindrome = digit + palindrome

palindrome = number + palindrome  
print("The palindrome number is " + palindrome)

In Python it is easy to iterate (loop through) through each character of a string one at a time using a for loop.

Notice that in this challenge, once again we are treating the user input as a string not a number. (We did not convert the user input on line 1 to an integer as we did in previous challenge using the int() function.) Each digit of our number/string is in fact a character from the string.

Challenge #6: Number Upgrade

ChallengeSolutionLearning Outcome?

Ask the user to enter any large number (e.g. at least 3 digits long). The program should return a number where each digit is being incremented by 1 except if the digit is equal to 9 then it becomes 0. For instance if the user enters 2489740 the program should return 3590851.

number = input("Type a large number:")
numberUpgrade = ""

for digit in number:
  if int(digit)==9:
    newDigit = 0
  else:
    newDigit = int(digit) + 1
  numberUpgrade = numberUpgrade + str(newDigit)
  
print("The Number Upgrade is " + numberUpgrade)

This is the same approach as for challenge number #5 where we iterate (loop through) each character of a string one at a time using a for loop.

We retrieve each digit (character) one at a time and have to convert these digits to integers using the int() on line 5 and 8 to be able to perform maths calculation with them (adding them up).

Challenge #7: Spaced Out Number

ChallengeSolutionLearning Outcome?

Ask the user to enter any large number (e.g. at least 3 digits long). The program should return this same number adding a “-“ between each digit. For instance if the user enters 3658 the program should return 3-6-5-8.

number = input("Type a large number:")
spacedOutNumber=""

for digit in number:
  spacedOutNumber = spacedOutNumber + "-" + str(digit)
  
print("The Spaced Out Number is " + spacedOutNumber[1:])

Once again we are iterating (looping through) each character of a string one at a time using a for loop.

Notice the slicing approach used to truncate the string from its first digit on line 7 using the string[1:] which returns all the characters from a string from position 1. (So slicing out the first character which is at position 0).

Challenge #8: Total Number

ChallengeSolutionLearning Outcome?

Ask the user to enter any large number (e.g. at least 3 digits long). The program should return the result of adding each digit together. For instance if the user enters 7324 the program should return 7+3+2+4 = 16.

number = input("Type a large number:")
totalNumber = 0

for digit in number:
  totalNumber += int(digit)
  
print("The Total Number is " + str(totalNumber))

Nothing new here… Once again we are iterating (looping through) each character of a string one at a time using a for loop.

Challenge #9: Plus Minus

ChallengeSolutionLearning Outcome?

Ask the user to enter any large number (e.g. at least 3 digits long). The program should return the result of alternatively adding and subtracting each digit together. For instance if the user enters 7324512 the program should return 7-3+2-4+5-1+2 = 8.

number = input("Type a large number:")
plusMinusNumber = 0
plusminus = 1

for digit in number:
  plusMinusNumber += int(digit) * plusminus
  plusminus = plusminus * (-1)
  
print("The Plus Minus is " + str(plusMinusNumber))

Nothing new here… Once again we are iterating (looping through) each character of a string one at a time using a for loop.

Challenge #10: Digit Grouping

ChallengeSolutionLearning Outcome?

When displaying numbers it is good practice to group digits together and use the comma to separate groups of three digits. For instance 100000000 is easier to read when it is displayed as 100,000,000.
Ask the user to enter any large number (e.g. at least 3 digits long). The program should display the result of formatting this number using the comma. For instance if the user enters 65738924 the program should return 65,738,924.

number = input("Type a large number:")
digitGroupingNumber = ""
counter=0

for digit in number[::-1]:
  if counter==3:
     digitGroupingNumber = digit + "," + digitGroupingNumber
     counter=0
  else:   
     digitGroupingNumber = digit + digitGroupingNumber
     counter+=1
  
print("The Digit Grouping Number is " + digitGroupingNumber)

You will notice on this code that we are iterating through each character of a string starting from the last character and going backwards up to the first character. To do so we used a negative step in our for loop using the [::-1] notation on line 5.

Limit 33

Posted on September 8, 2015 by Administrator Posted in Computer Science, Python - Intermediate, Python Challenges, Solved Challenges

“Limit 33” is a simple game of adding a series of random numbers to a running total. The player’s aim it to reach a total as close as possible to 33 without taking this total over 33.

Rules of the Game

A player starts with a total of zero.
On each turn a random number between 1 and 10 is generated and added to the player’s total.
If the player’s total exceeds 33, the player has lost and the game ends: Game Over.
At the end of each turn the player is asked whether they want to complete another turn or quit.
If they quit, the player is given a score as follows:

Zero point if their total is below 24 or above 33.
10 x (total – 23) points if their total is between 24 to 33.

For instance with a total of 29, the player would score 10 x (29-23) = 60 points. The maximum score they can reach is 10 x (33-23) = 100 when they reach a total of 33!

Flowchart

Your Challenge

For this challenge, you will create the Python code for this game. You can use the flowchart given above to help you with your code.

Solution...

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

Tagged with: Flowchart, Python Challenge

For Sale

Posted on September 6, 2015 by Administrator Posted in Computer Science, Python - Beginner, Python Challenges, Solved Challenges

Learning Objectives

In this challenge we are learning how to use variables to store the characteristics of your house. Some of our variables will be used to store text (string) such as the street name of your house. Some variables will be used to store numbers, either whole numbers (integers) or numbers with a decimal place (reals/floats). For instance we could use a variable called numberOfBedrooms.

Once we have stored all the characteristics of our house we will use the print command in Python to print a full description of our house.

Using variables

Look at the example below to see how text (string) and numbers (integers or reals) are stored using variables.

streetName = "Turing Street"
typeOfHouse = "detached"
numberOfBedrooms = 3
price = 99999.99

Have you noticed the use of “speech marks” when storing a string?

Step #1

Use the trinket below to store the street name, town, type of house (terraced, semi-detached, detached, flat). Don’t forget the use of “speech marks”.

Step #2

Now save the number of bedrooms, number of reception rooms, number of floors and selling price of your house, using numerical values. You will not need to use speech marks.

Step #3

We will now use the print command to display a description of our house on screen.

We will combine statements such as “My house is located on ” and variables (such as streetname) to create a clear description of our house. To do this we will use the + operator.

Tip:

When combining two strings or a statement and a string variable we use the + operator. For instance:

print("A lovely " + typeOfHouse + " located on " + streetName + ".")

When combining a string or a statement with a numerical variable (integer or real) we have to cast (convert) this number into a string using the str() function. For instance:

print("This house consists of " + str(numberOfBedrooms) + " bedrooms.")

Your Challenge

Complete your code to create a complete description of your house. For instance:

For sale: A superb semi-detached house located on Turing Street, London. This house contains 3 bedrooms and 2 reception rooms and is organised across 2 floors. It is for sale at £1,000,000.

Extension:

Can you think of additional characteristics to describe your house? For instance number of bathrooms, etc.

Create more variables to store these new characteristics and complete your description of your house.

Challenge #2

Using if statements we can tell the computer whether to execute some lines of codes or not. Let’s create a few more variables to store whether or not your house has:

A front garden,
A back garden,
A swimming pool,
A garage,
etc.

Then, using if statements, we will decide whether or not to add information to our description.

For instance:

frontGarden = True
if frontGarden == True:
    print ("This house also benefits from a lovely front garden.")

Complete your code adding extra characteristics to your house and displaying a message when relevant using if statements.

Solution...

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

Tagged with: Python

My superhero

Posted on September 6, 2015 by Administrator Posted in Computer Science, Python - Beginner, Python Challenges, Solved Challenges

Learning Objectives

In this challenge we are learning how to use variables to store the properties of a superhero. Some of our variables will be used to store text (string) such as the name of our super hero. Some variables will be used to store numbers, either whole numbers (integers) or numbers with a decimal place (reals/floats).

Once we have stored all our properties of our superhero we will use the print command in Python to print a full description of our superhero.

Using variables

Look at the example below to see how text (string) and numbers (integers or reals) are stored using variables.

name = "Baymax"
strength = 9
height = 1.85

Have you noticed the use of “speech marks” when storing a string?

Step #1

Use the trinket below to store the name, location, gender, name of the enemy, super powers of your superhero. Dont forget the use of “speech marks”.

name = "..."
location = "..."
gender = "..."
enemy = "..."
powers = "..., ..., ..."

Step #2

Now save the speed, age and strength of your superhero using numerical values. You will not need to use speech marks.

speed = 
strength = 
age =

Step #3

We will now use the print command to display a description of our superhero on screen.

We will combine statements such as “My superhero is called ” and variables (such as name) to create a clear description of our superhero. To do this we will use the + operator.

Tip:

When combining two strings or a statement and a string variable we use the + operator. For instance:

print("Hello, my name is " + name + " and I live in " + location + ".")

When combining a string or a statement with a numerical variable (integer or real) we have to cast (convert) this number into a string using the str() function. For instance:

print("My strength score is " + str(strength) + " out of 10.")

Your Challenge

Complete your code to create a complete description of your superhero. For instance:

My name is Batman and I live in Gotham City. I am male and my enemy is The Joker.

Extension:

Can you think of additional properties to describe your superhero? For instance the colours of their costume, their height, their weight, etc.

Create more variables to store these new properties and complete your description of your superhero.

Solution...

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

Tagged with: Python

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Did You Know?

Learning Objectives

Round #1:

Round #2:

Round #3:

Round #4:

Round #5: Your Turn!

Our Challenge

Task #1:

Task #2:

Task #3:

Solution...

Let’s get coding

Solution...

Your Task:

Learning Objectives

Let’s get coding

Extension Task:

Solution...

Challenge #1: Square Number

Challenge #2: Total 100

Challenge #3: Odd or Even?

Challenge #4: Telephone Number

Challenge #5: Palindrome

Challenge #6: Number Upgrade

Challenge #7: Spaced Out Number

Challenge #8: Total Number

Challenge #9: Plus Minus

Challenge #10: Digit Grouping

Learning Objectives

List?

Challenge

Your Task

Solution...

Rules of the Game

Flowchart

Your Challenge

Solution...

Learning Objectives

Using variables

Step #1

Step #2

Step #3

Tip:

Your Challenge

Extension:

Challenge #2

Solution...

Learning Objectives

Using variables

Step #1

Step #2

Step #3

Tip:

Your Challenge

Extension:

Solution...

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