19.11: Exercises
- Page ID
- 16969
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\(\newcommand{\avec}{\mathbf a}\) \(\newcommand{\bvec}{\mathbf b}\) \(\newcommand{\cvec}{\mathbf c}\) \(\newcommand{\dvec}{\mathbf d}\) \(\newcommand{\dtil}{\widetilde{\mathbf d}}\) \(\newcommand{\evec}{\mathbf e}\) \(\newcommand{\fvec}{\mathbf f}\) \(\newcommand{\nvec}{\mathbf n}\) \(\newcommand{\pvec}{\mathbf p}\) \(\newcommand{\qvec}{\mathbf q}\) \(\newcommand{\svec}{\mathbf s}\) \(\newcommand{\tvec}{\mathbf t}\) \(\newcommand{\uvec}{\mathbf u}\) \(\newcommand{\vvec}{\mathbf v}\) \(\newcommand{\wvec}{\mathbf w}\) \(\newcommand{\xvec}{\mathbf x}\) \(\newcommand{\yvec}{\mathbf y}\) \(\newcommand{\zvec}{\mathbf z}\) \(\newcommand{\rvec}{\mathbf r}\) \(\newcommand{\mvec}{\mathbf m}\) \(\newcommand{\zerovec}{\mathbf 0}\) \(\newcommand{\onevec}{\mathbf 1}\) \(\newcommand{\real}{\mathbb R}\) \(\newcommand{\twovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\ctwovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\threevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cthreevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\mattwo}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{rr}#1 \amp #2 \\ #3 \amp #4 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\laspan}[1]{\text{Span}\{#1\}}\) \(\newcommand{\bcal}{\cal B}\) \(\newcommand{\ccal}{\cal C}\) \(\newcommand{\scal}{\cal S}\) \(\newcommand{\wcal}{\cal W}\) \(\newcommand{\ecal}{\cal E}\) \(\newcommand{\coords}[2]{\left\{#1\right\}_{#2}}\) \(\newcommand{\gray}[1]{\color{gray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\lgray}[1]{\color{lightgray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\rank}{\operatorname{rank}}\) \(\newcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\col}{\text{Col}}\) \(\renewcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\nul}{\text{Nul}}\) \(\newcommand{\var}{\text{Var}}\) \(\newcommand{\corr}{\text{corr}}\) \(\newcommand{\len}[1]{\left|#1\right|}\) \(\newcommand{\bbar}{\overline{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bhat}{\widehat{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bperp}{\bvec^\perp}\) \(\newcommand{\xhat}{\widehat{\xvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\vhat}{\widehat{\vvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\uhat}{\widehat{\uvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\what}{\widehat{\wvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\Sighat}{\widehat{\Sigma}}\) \(\newcommand{\lt}{<}\) \(\newcommand{\gt}{>}\) \(\newcommand{\amp}{&}\) \(\definecolor{fillinmathshade}{gray}{0.9}\)Exercise \(\PageIndex{1}\)
Draw a stack diagram for the following program. What does the program print?
def b(z): prod = a(z, z) print z, prod return prod def a(x, y): x = x + 1 return x * y def c(x, y, z): total = x + y + z square = b(total)**2 return square x = 1 y = x + 1 print c(x, y+3, x+y)
- Solution:
Exercise \(\PageIndex{2}\)
The Ackermann function, A(m, n), is defined:
\[ A(m,n) = \begin{cases} n+1 & \text{if $m=0$} \\ A(m-1,1) & \text{if $m > 0$ and $n = 0$} \\ A(m-1, A(m,n-1)) & \text{if $m>0$ and $n>0$} \end{cases} \nonumber \]See http://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Ackermann_function. Write a function named ack
that evaluates Ackermann’s function. Use your function to evaluate ack(3, 4)
, which should be 125. What happens for larger values of m
and n
?
- Solution:
Exercise \(\PageIndex{3}\)
A palindrome is a word that is spelled the same backward and forward, like “noon” and “redivider”. Recursively, a word is a palindrome if the first and last letters are the same and the middle is a palindrome.
The following are functions that take a string argument and return the first, last, and middle letters:
def first(word): return word[0] def last(word): return word[-1] def middle(word): return word[1:-1]
We’ll see how they work in Chapter 8.
- Type these functions into a file named
palindrome.py
and test them out. What happens if you callmiddle
with a string with two letters? One letter? What about the empty string, which is written''
and contains no letters? - Write a function called
is_palindrome
that takes a string argument and returnsTrue
if it is a palindrome andFalse
otherwise. Remember that you can use the built-in functionlen
to check the length of a string.
Exercise \(\PageIndex{4}\)
A number, a, is a power of b if it is divisible by b and a/b is a power of b. Write a function called is_power
that takes parameters a
and b
and returns True
if a
is a power of b
. Note: you will have to think about the base case.
Exercise \(\PageIndex{5}\)
The greatest common divisor (GCD) of a and b is the largest number that divides both of them with no remainder.
One way to find the GCD of two numbers is based on the observation that if r is the remainder when a is divided by b, then gcd(a, b) = gcd(b, r). As a base case, we can use gcd(a, 0) = a.
Write a function called gcd
that takes parameters a and b and returns their greatest common divisor.
Credit: This exercise is based on an example from Abelson and Sussman’s Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs.