CS4FN Puzzles Issue 1

Computational Thinking
Puzzles
Answer Booklet

www.cs4fn.org/puzzles

This answer booklet and its linked puzzle book were written by Paul Curzon and Peter McOwan of
Queen Mary University of London. It is possible due to support from Google’s CS4HS programme
with additional support from the Department for Education, Mayor of London and EPSRC through
the CHI+MED research project.

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CS4FN Puzzles Issue 1

1. Word Search

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
0 N K - - - S - - - - T - - A L U S R U
1 A A - F R E C - - N I - - - - N H O J
2 M R - - - K - - I - M - - N - F B - -
3 H E A D A L O V E L A C E I - R R S P
4 C N N I W I R T H - - - - K R A I E H
5 L S I J - W E N D Y H A L L E N N R I
6 E P T K - - N V O K S I L A Y - - G L
7 W A A S - - M A U R I S E U A - - E I
8 N R G T - - E E L - R - M S M R - Y P
9 O C G R O B G - - A J E A N N E T T E
10 D K Y A A N - - G - R D R - A D I M M
11 R J H - I C O D D A - S T - S L M O E
12 O O T W - - E S O - - G I - S A Z H A
13 G N O - - - I H - - - E N - I C I A G
14 R E R - - R Y E O B A R B A R A R M W
15 A S O - H N C - - P - - G - A - A M A
16 C - D C O I - - - - P - N Y M - W E L
17 E - S T R A C H E Y - E I - R - H D I
18 - - - U D E N N I N G - R - - E K - -
19 - - A - S R E N R E B M U F F Y L - -
20 - M V O N N E U M A N N T D A N A U -

The first letter of each answer is in bold. Solutions are given in the format:
answer word: (row, column, direction)

ADA (3,2,E) LOVELACE (3,5,E) ANITA (3,2,S) BORG (9,5,W), BARBARA (14,9,E) LISKOV
(6,12,W), DANA (20,13,E) ULERY (20,17,NW) DOROTHY (16,2,N) DENNING (18,4,E) FRAN
(2,15,S) ALLEN (5,11,E) GRACE (13,0,S) HOPPER (13,7,SE) JEANNETTE (9,10,E) WING
(12,3,NE) KAREN (0,1,S) SPARCK-JONES (5,1,S) MARISSA (16,14,N) MAYER (8,14,N) MUFFY
(19,11,E) CALDER (13,15,N) URSULA (0,18,W) MARTIN (8,12,S) WENDY (5,5,E) HALL (5,10,E)

ALAN (9,9,NW) TURING (20,12,N), CHRIS (16,3,NE) STRACHEY (17,2,E) EDGAR (12,6,NE)
CODD (11,5,E) , EDSGER (9,11,S) DIJKSTRA (3,3,S) JOHN (1,18,W) VON NEUMANN (20,2,E)
MAURICE (20,1,NE) WILKES (5,5,N) MOHAMMED (10,17,S) AL-KHWARIZMI (20,16,N),
NIKLAUS (2,13,S) WIRTH (4,4,E), PHILIP (3,18,S) EMEAGWALI(9,18,S) SERGEY (3,17,S) BRIN
(2,16,S) TIM (0,10,S) BERNERS (19,10,W) LEE(8,8,W),TONY (17,3,NE) HOARE (13,7,NE), VINT
(3,7,NE) CERF (1,6,W)

Additional name
GORDON (13,0,N) WELCHMAN (7,0,N)

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2.  Cypher  breaking  grid

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
W Z M F Q J N E D O A P V
14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
I L U B R T C K S X H Y G

22 11 11 24 11 8 14
S A A H A E I
12 10 14 7 19 8 18 5 16 8 8 7 22
P O I N T E R Q U E E N S
4 14 8 16 15 10 2
F I E U L O Z
11 19 10 3 14 20 6 11 13 11 19 24 8
A T O M I C J A V A T H E
1 11 10 18 9 18 25 8 17
W A O R D R Y E B
24 11 18 15 8 3 9 16 22 19 22 18
H A R L E M D U S T S R
18 3 8 20 3 19 11
R M E C M T A
21 8 25 22 22 11 19 16 18 11 19 8
K E Y S S A T U R A T E
14 11 19 10 18
I A T O R
12 11 1 22 15 10 10 12 18 10 3 8
P A W S L O O P R O M E
25 11 22 8 23 14 14
Y A S E X I I
22 19 11 22 24 22 10 20 21 23 7 10
S T A S H S O C K X N O
24 19 8 11 3 10 11
H T E A M O A
26 10 15 8 3 11 3 11 26 7 8 19 22
G O L E M A M A G N E T S
7 9 7 14 17 10 8
N D N I B O E

14 7 22 12 11 20 8 7 10 10 7 8
I N S P A C E N O O N E

20 11 7 24 8 11 18 25 10 16
C A N H E A R Y O U

22 20 18 8 11 3
S C R E A M

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3.  Cut  block  puzzles  

1 3 2 1 4 2
4 5 1 2 3 1
1 3 2 1 4 2
2 4 1 3 5 1

1 3 2 5 3 2 3
2 4 1 4 1 4 1
1 3 2 3 2 3 2
2 4 6 1 4 1 4
3 1 5 2 3 2 5
2 4 3 1 5 1 4

Download  our  booklet  about  solving  Cut  Block  puzzles  from  www.cs4fn.org/puzzles/  

4. Sherlock  Syllogism  
i) b: all rubies in the game are expensive in-game purchases.
(a) and (c) are also true though give less information
ii) d. None of the above.
iii) b. Some Rounding Errors are Poor Computer Software.
iv) a. Some websites are not educational

5.  Word  Ladder  

Here is one solution:

LISP
LIMP
LAMP
LAMA
LAVA
JAVA

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6.  Bit  Ladder  

0  0  0  
0  0  1
0  1  1
0  1  0
1  1  0
1  1  1
1  0  1
1  0  0  

7.  Debugging  spot  the  difference  

sum = float(num)
should be
sum = float(num1)

There is a missing quote in the last line:

'The sum of {0} and {1} is {2}
should be
'The sum of {0} and {1} is {2}’

There is a missing ) at the very end of the last line.

8. Kakuru

4 3 15 7 6 10 15
7 13
1 2 4 1 4 3 5
6 10
3 1 2 5
4 2 1 3
7 5
3 6
1 4 2 19
4 1 4
10 10
2 4 3 1 7
1 2 4 3
8 10 3
1 2 5 1 9 6
2 1
6
17 16 14
2 3 1 7 6
16 21
9 7 16
1 4 6 5 2 3
30 3
8 9 7 6 1 2
16 5
9 7 4 1

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9 Bakuro

5 15
0101 1111
3
0011 1 2
11
1011
13
1101
0001 0010
15
1111 2 8 4 1
0010 1000 0100 0001 15
1111
5 12
0101 1 4 1100 4 8
0001 0100 0100 1000
9 9
1001 8 1 1001 8 1
1000 0001 1000 0001 9
1001
3
0011 2 1
0010 0001
12
1100 4 8
0100 1000

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10. Extreme  logical  thinking:  EaFng  at  Quonk  

That answer is 3: Babs and Yabu eat at Quonk

Why?
We know Alice and Zach eat together at Quonk. That means that EITHER
• the woman who likes to eat there is Alice OR
• the man who likes to eat there is Zach.
It is not BOTH Alice and Zach who like to eat there as then they would have eaten somewhere
else.
This means that the woman and man in question is EITHER
• Alice and Yabu OR
• it is Babs and Zach.
We cannot tell which though. Luckily, that does not matter, we have enough information. In both
cases we get the same conclusion.
If it is Alice and Yabu that like Quonk, then:
• Babs and Yabu would eat there because of Yabu.
• Alice and Yabu wouldn't because both are there.
• Babs and Zach wouldn't because neither Babs nor Zach eat there.
If it is Babs and Zach that like Quonk then:
• Babs and Yabu would eat there because of Babs.
• Alice and Yabu wouldn't because neither Babs or Zach are there.
• Babs and Zach wouldn't because both are there.
So whichever the pair is:
• Babs and Yabu would eat there.
• Alice and Yabu wouldn't eat there.
• Babs and Zach wouldn't eat there.

11. Extreme logical thinking: A Trip to Market

Here is one possible answer, there is another efficient solution that is similar.
1) Farmer travels across with the hen (Dog left with Corn but that is okay).
2) Farmer returns.
3) Farmer travels across with Dog.
4) Farmer returns with Hen (as otherwise dog will eat it)
5) Farmer travels across with corn.
6) Farmer returns (leaving dog and corn again)
7) Farmer travels across with the hen.
8) Farmer sends the seat back to the other bank.

It is very common to get this puzzle wrong by forgetting to return the seat at the end returning the
seat. The aim is to get everything across so the farmer can carry on home. However, once that
was done you had to put the seat back to the side it came from. If you made the mistake
you cannot claim you did not know. It was there in the instructions, and you were even told why it
was important. Making this kind of mistake where there is a last tidying up task to do is so common
it has a special name - it is called a post-completion error. It appears in lots of situations like
forgetting a credit card at a supermarket checkout or self service machine. When designing
software you have to design the way the task is done too and avoid last steps that are easily
forgotten like this.

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12. Compression Codes

a)
Ready, fire, aim (the fast approach to software development).
Ready, aim, aim, aim, aim ... (the slow approach to software development).

b)
Great fleas have lesser fleas,
Upon their backs to bite 'em,
And lesser fleas have lesser fleas,
and so, ad infinitum.

And those great fleas, themselves, in turn

Have greater fleas to go on;
While those again have greater still,
And greater still, and so on.

13.  Debugging spot the difference

Line 1
The word void is missing.
{} should be []
The ; should be a ,
int m should be int n
Line 3
The , should be ; (twice)
< should be <=
p=0 should be p=1
Line 5
int i should be int i=0
q should be p
The F in for shouldn't be capitalised.
Line 7
Remove the ; from the end
< should be >
Missing ) at end
Line 9
S in Swap shouldn't be in capitals.
i+l should be i+1 (the number 1, not the letter l)
Missing ; from end
Line 13
Missing }

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14. Compressed Pixel Puzzles

2 1 1 2 2 1 2
1 2 2 2 3 1 1 1 1 2 1
4 2 1 1 2 2 2 2 1 2 2 1
1 1 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1
1 1 2 3 12 10 1 2 2 1 2 3 2 1 15

2 2 1 3 3

2 1 2 3 2

1 2 2 2 1

1 3 4 3

2 1 2 1

7 2 1 1

2 2 3

5 2 1

2 4 1 1 2

2 1

2 1 1 1 1

2 1

1 3 1 1

4 2 3 1

15

15. The Tour Guide

There are many solutions. One solution is:

Hotel – Science Museum – Toy Shop – Big Wheel – Park – Zoo – Aquarium – Art Gallery – Wax
Works – War Ship – Castle – Cathedral – Hotel

16. The Knight’s Tour

There are many solutions. One solution is:

1-9-3-11-5-7-12-4-10-2-8-6-1
In fact, this puzzle is actually the same as the Tour Guide puzzle. If you draw a map showing which
squares can be jumped between you get a picture that looks just like the Tour Guide map.

This puzzle was adapted from an idea by Maciej Syslo and Anna Beata Kwiatkowska, Nicolaus
Copernicus University.

17. The Bridges of Königsberg

There is no solution. It is impossible to create such a tour without going back over the same bridge
twice. Any suitable route must visit every land area (islands and the two banks). It must also
involve every bridge but only once. Let’s suppose there is such a route and we draw a red line
over the map to show it. All the bridges must be on the route so should be coloured red. Now think
about a land area on that route. It must have a red line in to it for every red line out from it.
Otherwise, the route will get stuck when it arrives on that extra bridge. There will be no way out
without going back over a bridge already crossed. The same reasoning applies to every land area.
That means all land areas must have an even number of bridges connected to them if there is such
a route. All the land areas on the Königsberg map have an odd number of bridges, so there is no
such tour possible.

Download our booklet about the above three puzzles (15,16,17) from www.cs4fn.org/puzzles/

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18. The Swap Puzzle

The following are efficient solutions for each board.

The level 1 puzzle can be solved in 3 moves as follows:

Step 1: Square 1 GETS THE PIECE FROM Square 0
Step 2: Square 0 GETS THE PIECE FROM Square 2
Step 3: Square 2 GETS THE PIECE FROM Square 1

The level 2 puzzle can be solved in 8 moves as follows:

Step 1: Square 2 GETS THE PIECE FROM Square 1
Step 2: Square 1 GETS THE PIECE FROM Square 3
Step 3: Square 3 GETS THE PIECE FROM Square 4
Step 4: Square 4 GETS THE PIECE FROM Square 2
Step 5: Square 2 GETS THE PIECE FROM Square 0
Step 6: Square 0 GETS THE PIECE FROM Square 1
Step 7: Square 1 GETS THE PIECE FROM Square 3
Step 8: Square 3 GETS THE PIECE FROM Square 2

The level 3 puzzle can be solved in 15 moves as follows:

Step 1: Square 3 GETS THE PIECE FROM Square 2
Step 2: Square 2 GETS THE PIECE FROM Square 4
Step 3: Square 4 GETS THE PIECE FROM Square 5
Step 4: Square 5 GETS THE PIECE FROM Square 3
Step 5: Square 3 GETS THE PIECE FROM Square 1
Step 6: Square 1 GETS THE PIECE FROM Square 0
Step 7: Square 0 GETS THE PIECE FROM Square 2
Step 8: Square 2 GETS THE PIECE FROM Square 4
Step 9: Square 4 GETS THE PIECE FROM Square 6
Step 10: Square 6 GETS THE PIECE FROM Square 5
Step 11: Square 5 GETS THE PIECE FROM Square 3
Step 12: Square 3 GETS THE PIECE FROM Square 1
Step 13: Square 1 GETS THE PIECE FROM Square 2
Step 14: Square 2 GETS THE PIECE FROM Square 4
Step 15: Square 4 GETS THE PIECE FROM Square 3

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19. Word search

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

0 S Y N T A X E N G I N E R A B
1 A C H C R A E S P A M E S
2 V F A S H I F T S T T E S
3 E R N W O O U C O
4 U N O S F H P U C
5 T S E R C T S M R I
6 O R K R W P O I A
7 H S U T A T S I I A A C T L
8 S P Y W A R E N P R N R Y R
9 N S H E L L R G T Y E S E E
10 E L V E C P M
11 E O E K R U M
12 R R S H A R E W A R E S A
13 C C S P R E A D S H E E T P
14 S T O R A G E N A C S

The  answer  words  and  their  posiAons  in  the  grid  are  given  in  the  following  format:    
answer  (row,column,direcAon)  

BAR(0,14,W) SHELL(9,1,E)
ENGINE(0,6,E) SHIFT(2,3,E)
KEY(11,7,NE) SNAPSHOT(9,11,N)
NETWORKING(0,7,S) SOCIAL(2,14,S)
SAVE(0,0,S) SOFTWARE(2,10,S)
SCAN(14,14,W) SPAM(1,8,E)
SCANNER(0,0,SE) SPAMMER(14,14,N)
SCREEN(9,11,S) SPREADSHEET(13,3,E)
SCREENSHOT(14,0,N) SPYWARE(8,0,E)
SCRIPT(4,8,S) STATUS(7,6,W)
SCROLL(14,0,NE) STORAGE(14,0,E)
SEARCH(1,8,W) SUPERCOMPUTER(12,12,N)
SECURITY(1,13,S) SURF(5,4,NW)
SERVER(7,6,S) SYNTAX(0,0,E)
SHAREWARE(12,3,E)

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20. Word Ladder

Here is one solution:

ALICE
SLICE
SLIME
SLIMS
SLITS
FLITS
FLATS
FEATS
TEATS
TENTS
VENTS
VENUS
GENUS
GENES

21. Lovelace’s Life Ladder

1815
1812
1852

Download a special issue of cs4fn magazine on Ada Lovelace from www.cs4fn.org/puzzles/

22. Bit Ladder

Here is one solution:

0 0 0 0
0 0 0 1
0 0 1 1
0 0 1 0
0 1 1 0
0 1 1 1
0 1 0 1
0 1 0 0
1 1 0 0
1 1 0 1
1 1 1 1
1 1 1 0
1 0 1 0
1 0 1 1
1 0 0 1
1 0 0 0

23. Napier’s Life Ladder (from birth to bones)

1550
1650
1657
1617

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24. Dave’s data dilemma

This magic trick is based on a mathematical foundation called a forcing matrix. You can easily
create one of these yourself for any force number you want, a force number is the number that will
always turn up at the end, here we used 58 as an example. The principal works for any square
matrix size 4 by 4, 6 by 6 and so on you just need to think how the size of the matrix this fits into
the story you’re going to tell in the performance when creating your trick.

Here’s the secret, for a 5x5 force matrix (we used the 5 weekdays in the trick), select any ten
numbers (2x5), which we will call the seed numbers, that sum to your desired force number(in this
case 58). For example, 6 + 1 + 4 + 7 + 12 + 7 + 3 + 4 + 11 + 3= 58.

Place these seed numbers in any order round a 5 x5 grid, this grid when complete will be your
forcing matrix. Now fill in the grid number by number by adding the seed number in the row to the
seed number in the column to get the grid number value for each position of the 25 numbers in the
grid. For example the first number in the matrix 13 is made by adding 7 (the row seed) and 6 (the
column seed) to give the value for that matrix entry of 6+7=13. If we are at the position 3, 3 in the
grid, the row seed is 4 and the column seed is 4 so the number is 4+4=8.
M T W T F
6 1 4 7 12

A 7 13 8 11 14 19

B 3 9 4 7 10 15

C 4 10 5 8 11 16

D11 17 12 15 18 23

E3 9 4 7 10 15

Your forcing matrix ready, now is the time to use it. You need to come up with a clever story in the
performance that requires you audience to choose each of the column of numbers, here we used
choosing a different day of the school week to make sure our audience select each of the columns,
and this selection can be in any order. For each column (day M T W T F) selected the audience
need to choose a different row position in the selected column each time, here we used friends
names (call them A B C D E).
What does this mean mathematically? Ensuring we use every day (M-F) and ensuring a different
name is chosen on each day (A-B) means all the chosen numbers we add at the end each contain
the row and column seed numbers we used to create the forcing matrix in the first place. For
example choosing Monday ensures we have a contribution from Monday column seed 6, and
choosing friend B on Monday ensure we have a contribution from row seed 3, so both seeds are
contained in the chosen number 9. Ensuring that the next selection is a different day, and a
different friend will add another set of two column and row seeds onto the final total, and so on.
The final sum total is therefore guaranteed to contain all the seeds hidden in the numbers selected,
and will always add to the force number 58,
Magicians note
This mathematical magic trick of using a forcing matrix is believed to be first written about in a
magic book by Maurice Kraitchik in 1942, but the idea has been used by other magicians with a
range of different presentations including Walter Gibson, Mel Stover, Stewart James, Martin
Gardner, Paul Hallas and Max Maven amongst others.

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25. Cryptogram
The message was:
THE YOUNG ADA DREAMT OF BEING ABLE TO FLY AND APPROACHED THE
PROBLEM OF HER EARTH BOUND STATE WITH TYPICAL GUSTO AND A
SCIENTIFIC EYE

The following key was used to encrypt it though not all letters appear in the message. Though not
all letters ultimately appear so the full key can’t be reconstructed from this message.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
K D M V N T A O U B J I S
14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
X Z L C W F Y G P R E H Q

26. Extreme logical thinking: Card sorting, well sort of

1) You must turn over card A and card D

Did you get this one wrong? This is called the Wason selection task and was devised by Peter
Cathcart Wason in 1966. It may well have fooled you! Psychology researchers have shown only
about 5% of the population gets it right. So well done if you did get it right. Though we think we act
logically, often we don’t. Most people think the answer is to turn over card A and card C which
wouldn’t prove

Why? The statement "every card with a vowel on one side has an even number on its opposite
side" can only be shown to be false if there was an odd number on the opposite site of one known
to be a vowel card (ie card A) and/or a vowel on the opposite side of one known to be an odd
numbered (i.e. card D).

2) You must turn over card B and card C

Later in 1992 researchers Cosmides and Tooby found that people could do this task and select the
correct cards, if they were given a version of the test that was relevant to a social situation, like the
one here about whether someone is old enough to buy fireworks. Most people get this right even
though they found the first hard and logically they are exactly the same problem.

We are better at logical thinking that is socially relevant - we are social creatures more than logical
ones, which is why we need to train our skills in logic.

27. Girls and Boys  

This  is  a  problem  in  both  logic  and  probability.  We  have  two  equally  probable  possibiliAes:    

Possibility one - The younger child is a boy.

Possibility two - The younger child is a girl, so both children are girls.

Therefore using the information we have, the probability of the Professor having two girls is
1/2. Whatever the probability the Professor was a wonderful mother to both.

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28. Pinky’s Pipe Pickle

The maximum flow is 14. Here is one solution that gives that maximum flow.

4/5 6/6
2/2
INLET OUTLET

14 / 19
7/7 5/5

3/3 3/8
0/4

3/3
3/3 1/1 4/7
2/2
4/5
INLET 3/5 5/5 OUTLET
11/14
6 /6
0/8
3/5
1/1
2/2

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29. Codeoku

% } @ $ & # > [ ;

; > & @ } [ $ % #

$ # [ ; > % @ & }

# @ % [ ; > } $ &

> & $ % # } ; @ [

} [ ; & $ @ # > %

@ $ # } [ & % ; >

& % > # @ ; [ } $

[ ; } > % $ & # @

30. Navigating the Numbers

The  answers  and  their  posiAons  in  the  grid  are  given  in  the  following  format:  answer  (row,column,direcAon)  

(a)  2015  (3,3,N)  (b)  217  (3,0,NE)  (c)  9367  (7,7,W)  (d)  1815  (8,0,E)  (e)  1024  (1,3,E)  (f)  1791  (6,4,  SE)  

(g)  1972  (0,0,S)  (h)  3456  (0,1,E)  (i)  1852  (9,1,E)  ( j)  2652  (9,6,E)  (k)  1003  (8,9,W)  

(l)  8192  (4,6,NE)  (m)  138  (4,0,  E)  (n)  2567  (0,9,SW)  (o)  34835  (4,4,E)  (p)  3587    (3,8,S)  

(q)  5912  (6,0,E)  (r)  3213  (4,4,SW)  (s)  2311  (5,3,W)  (t)  1981  (0,5,E)  (u)  4920  (6,7,W)  (v)  1954  (2,9,S)  

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

0 1 3 4 5 6 1 9 8 1 2
1 9 1 7 1 0 2 4 9 5 2
2 7 1 8 0 3 1 8 6 9 1
3 2 3 2 2 2 2 7 1 3 9
4 1 3 8 6 3 4 8 3 5 5
5 1 1 3 2 7 6 1 2 8 4
6 5 9 1 2 0 2 9 4 7 3
7 1 3 1 7 7 6 3 9 9 8
8 1 8 1 5 9 5 3 0 0 1
9 0 1 8 5 2 1 2 6 5 2

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31.  Bakuro  

9 6 7 1 15
1001 0110 0111 0001 1111
5 7
0101 1 4 0111 2 1 4
0001 0100 14
1110
0010 0001 0100 3
0011
15 3
1111 8 2 4 1 0011 2 1
1000 0010 0100 0001 0010 0001
6 10
0110 2 4 1010 8 2
13
1101
0010 0100 15
1111
1000 0010
12 3
1100 4 8 0011 2 1
12
1100
0100 1000 3
0011
0010 0001
12 10
1100 4 8 1010 2 8
0100 1000 0010 1000 10
1010
9 7
1001 8 1 0111 1 4 2
1000 0001 0001 0100 0010
9
1001 1 8
0001 1000

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CS4FN Puzzles Issue 1

32.  History  Timeline  Dot  to  Dot  

The  order  to  join  the  dots  in  the  order:    

G  J  L    C  B  E  I  K  D  M  H  N  A    F  

   
B E

H F
C M

                 @  
I
D
L N A K
J G

1. G  (440BC)  The  idea  of  steganography,  the  pracAce  of  hiding  messages,  is  recorded  for  the  first  Ame  in  
the  book  ‘Histories’  by  Herodotus.  
2. J  (~60BC)  Julius  Caesar  uses  what  becomes  known  as  the  Caesar  cipher  to  encrypt  his  messages.  
3. L  (~825  AD)    Al-­‐Khwarizmi  writes  his  book  ‘On  the  CalculaAon  with  Hindu  Numerals’:  the  translaAon  of  
which  gives  the  word  algorithm  
4. C  (1587)  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots  is  executed  as  a  result  of  Walsingham  decoding  her  secret  messages  
ploeng  to  kill  Elizabeth  I  using  frequency  analysis.  
5. B  (1605)  Francis  Bacon  invents  the  Bacon  cipher,  a  way  of  encoding  lefers  in  binary  for  use  in  secret  
wriAng.  
6. E  (1679)  Gogried  Leibniz  discovers  the  modern  binary  number  system.  
7. I  (1737)  Jacques  de  Vaucanson  builds  The  Flute  Player,  the  first  biomechanical  automaton.  It  is  a  life-­‐size  
figure  that  can  play  12  different  songs.  
8. K  (1801)  The  Jacquard  loom  is  first  demonstrated.  It  revoluAonises  weaving  and  its  punch  card  system  
that  control  the  pafern  is  a  foundaAon  for  the  idea  of  stored  computer  programs  and  data  storage.  
9. D  (1843)  Ada  Lovelace’s  notes  on  Charles  Babbage’s  proposed  analyAcal  engine  lead  to  her  being  hailed  
as  the  first  programmer.  
10. M  (1936)  Alan  Turing  invents  the  Universal  Turing  Machine,  a  mathemaAcal  precursor  to  the  stored  
program  computer.  
11. H  (1952)  Grace  Hopper  invents  the  first  programming  language  compiler,  making  code  far  easier  to  
write.  
12. N  (1960s)  ALGOL,  the  first  block  structured  programming  language  is  invented  influencing  virtually  all  
languages  that  follow.  
13. A  (1972)  Karen  Spärck  Jones  invents  IDF  weighAng,  the  algorithm  behind  most  search  engines,    making  
it  pracAcal  to  search  the  web.  
14. F  (2006)  Jeanefe  Wing  popularises  the  idea  of  ComputaAonal  Thinking  as  the  core,  generally  useful,  
skill  set  of  the  computer  scienAst.  

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CS4FN Puzzles Issue 1

33. Compression Codes

ninety-nine little bugs hiding in the code,

ninety-nine little bugs hiding in the code,
one bug is fixed … and we compile it all again,
and there are a hundred little bugs hiding in the code.

34. Troubling communication

a) There are many ways this could be done. If blinking is hard you need a way to make sure the
patient have to blink as few times as possible for each letter. Probably the simplest way is that the
Doctor slowly says the alphabet out loud a letter at a time, and the patient blinks when the letter
they are thinking of is said. The Doctor writes that down and then starts again.

b) If blinking is easy they can blink multiple times per letter. One way would be to use Morse code
though that might be hard for both people to remember. Another possibility would be to hold up a
series of cards showing groups of letters and asking if it was in that group. This might start with the
letters in the first half of the alphabet. If it is one of those letters the patient blinks. If not they don’t
blink. Then depending on the answer you show a card showing half the letters left. You repeat this
until there is only one letter left.

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CS4FN Puzzles Issue 1

35. Program search

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

0 i f ( : 1 = = ) m
1 p t n i r p o ) o
2 i t h a n o i " - " , t m v
3 e h a ( p i e c e s , e o e
4 c a n c v r , t
5 e n o e l s e : o f m m o
6 s o i d s g n i r m e o o )
7 ( p i e c e s - 1 , o o v r v
8 m f 1 t v o f e :
9 e v o m " ( 1 , h e m e f )
10 m o v e f r o m , e t v r r
11 , r e h t o o t h e r ) o o o e
12 t h a n o i , , m m h
13 m o v e f r o m , f r o m " , t
14 , m o v e t o , o

The  words  including  punctuaAon  as  they  appear  and  their  posiAons  in  the  grid  are  given  in  the  following  
format:  answer  (row,column,direcAon)  

def       (6,5,S)   other,     (7,10,S)  

else:     (5,7,E)   pieces     (1,0,S)  
from",     (13,10,E)   print     (1,7,W)  
if       (0,0,E)   ring       (6,11,W)  
movefrom)   (9,13,N)   thanoi     (1,3,S)  
movefrom,     (12,14,N)   thanoi   (2,2,S)  
movefrom,     (10,0,E)   thanoi     (12,2,E)  
movefrom,     (13,1,E)   thanoi     (2,2,E)  
movefrom,     (5,15,S)   (pieces-­‐1,   (0,7,S)  
moveto)   (6,12,N)   (pieces-­‐1,    (7,0,E)  
moveto)   (0,16,S)   (pieces,     (3,4,E)  
moveto,     (6,12,S)   ("move     (9,5,W)  
moveto,     (14,3,E)   (1,       (9,5,E)  
moveto,     (8,2,S)   ==                    (0,10,E)  
other)   (11,6,E)   1:     (0,9,W)  
other):   (14,16,N)   "-­‐",       (2,8,E)  
other,     (11,5,W)      

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