Algorithms · topic
The wrong turns that cost marks, recognition cues and routines for each question pattern, and a last-day sheet of bounds, counts and checks.
Thirty-two common mistakes across the Algorithms syllabus, each stated as the tempting belief, the correct rule and a short reminder with the page that explains it: asymptotic notation and the master theorem, loop counts, searching, every sort's cost and stability, hashing and probing, divide and conquer, greedy versus dynamic programming, traversal edge classes and topological orders, minimum spanning trees and shortest paths with negative edges and weight changes.
A partial preview of the top of the sheet. The full sheet is in the Algorithms cheat sheet pack.
Twenty question shapes across the Algorithms syllabus, each with the recognition cue, the first step and method to apply, and the assumption or slip that most often changes the answer: recurrences, growth ordering, loop counts, sorting traces and exact counts, merge and partition traces, searching boundaries, hashing traces and probe estimates, greedy correctness, DP tables, traversal statements, topological orders, MST and shortest-path traces and weight changes; plus a three-step routine for any question.
A partial preview of the top of the sheet. The full sheet is in the Algorithms cheat sheet pack.
A one-page summary of the pack for the last evening: the master theorem with its conditions, recurrences to know, the growth ladder, sorting costs and stability, exact comparison counts, hashing costs, greedy rules that work, DP recurrences and costs, traversal facts, MST and shortest-path algorithms with their weight conditions and costs, and the numbers worth remembering. Every value repeats one computed on an earlier sheet.
A partial preview of the top of the sheet. The full sheet is in the Algorithms cheat sheet pack.
