Objectives of Challenging Task Sessions

Sample questions
Time Budget
Motivating the students

Challenging Task Session - CSE1001

Challenging Task SessionCSE1001

 Objectives of Challenging Task Sessions
Sample questions
Time Budget
Motivating the students

O UTLINE

1 O BJECTIVES OF C HALLENGING TASK S ESSIONS

2 S AMPLE QUESTIONS

3 T IME B UDGET

4 M OTIVATING THE STUDENTS

Challenging Task SessionCSE1001

 Objectives of Challenging Task Sessions
Sample questions
Time Budget
Motivating the students

Students should be made to think during the session

CTS should be a Minds-On as well as Hands-On session
They should use all their resources such as Thinking, skills
gained through Practice sessions Assessment Sessions,
knowledge gained by getting exposed to different type of
problems, Time etc.
All the resources should be used to the full extent

Challenging Task SessionCSE1001

 Objectives of Challenging Task Sessions
Sample questions
Time Budget
Motivating the students

M AIN C ONSTRAINT

M AIN C ONSTRAINT IS THE T IME . W ITH ALL THEIR RESOURCES ,

S TUDENTS SHOULD FINISH THE TASK WITHIN THE STIPULATED
100 MINUTES

Questions shall be designed in such a way.

Challenging Task SessionCSE1001

 Objectives of Challenging Task Sessions
Sample questions
Time Budget
Motivating the students

S AMPLE Q UESTIONS

Dr X has discovered a tablet which will reduce the height of the

humans. A person has to take one tablet every day, till his
desired height is reached. If a person of height less than one
foot, takes the tablet, the tablet will not work. A person with
height say, 5.5 ft may get reduced to a height not less than 1 ft,
if that person takes one tablet each day, for a certain period.
Another doctor Dr. Y has discovered a tablet, a
height-increasing tablet, which will increase the height of the
person, which can work, only on the persons with height
greater than 1 ft.

Challenging Task SessionCSE1001

 Objectives of Challenging Task Sessions
Sample questions
Time Budget
Motivating the students

P ROBLEM CONTINUED

Both the tablets (height-reducing tablet, height-increasing

tablet) have a different formula. Write a Python code to check,
whether a person whose height is reduced from s feet to k
ft(1 < k < 1.5) in m number of days by taking the
height-reducing tablet, will gain his original height of s feet by
consuming the height-increasing tablets in the same number of
m days itself. If a person could not attain the height of s ft in the
same number of days as that of consuming the height-reducing
tablets, your code should compute the positive difference
between the number of days of consuming the height-reducing
tablet (days required to attain the height k from s)and the
number of days of consuming the height-increasing tablet (days
required to attain the height s from k ) .

Challenging Task SessionCSE1001

 Objectives of Challenging Task Sessions
Sample questions
Time Budget
Motivating the students

P ROBLEM CONTINUED

W HILE CONSUMING THE HEIGHT- INCREASING TABLETS , IT MAY

HAPPEN THAT THE PERSON COULD NOT REACH THE HEIGHT OF s
EXACTLY. I N THAT CASE , ONE CAN STOP THE CONSUMPTION OF
HEIGHT- INCREASING TABLET AFTER REACHING A HEIGHT OF s 0 .
YOUR CODE SHOULD HANDLE ALL POSSIBLE HEIGHTS , THAT
RANGE FROM 0.5 FEET TO 10 FEET, IN STEPS OF 0.5.YOUR CODE
SHOULD CAPTURE THE FUNCTION OF THE TWO TABLETS WHICH
WORK ON DIFFERENT FORMULA . YOUR CODE SHOULD NOT USE
THE BASIC OPERATIONS SUCH AS ADDITION , SUBTRACTION ,
MULTIPLICATION , DIVISION . F OR THE PURPOSE OF CHECKING
THE EQUALITY OF NUMBERS , YOU CAN CHECK UPTO THE TWO
DECIMALS .

Challenging Task SessionCSE1001

 Objectives of Challenging Task Sessions
Sample questions
Time Budget
Motivating the students

R EQUIREMENT FOR THE ABOVE P ROBLEM - ONE IDEA

The core idea : If we take any number, taking the (1/n)th

power (n is a integer) of the number repeatedly, will reduce
that number to 1. This can play the role of height-reducing
tablet.
Repeatedly Raising the power of the reduced height (x n ,
not the same n used in the first step) will do the work of
height-increasing tablet.
Given a height s (a real number), repeatedly take the
(1/n)th power, till it reaches to a number just above 1, say
k (1 < k < 1.5), and count the number of times the
function is used, for that purpose.. let it be m

Challenging Task SessionCSE1001

 Objectives of Challenging Task Sessions
Sample questions
Time Budget
Motivating the students

Repeatedly raise the power of k to pth power, n 6= p, p is an

integer(k p ) and check, whether we get the number s(the
original height) or s0 , which is just above s.Count the
number of times the function is used. Let it be t.
For every valid height, the code should return whether m is
equal to t or not. If it is not equal , the code should return
the difference between m and t, which is positive..
This is the minimum requirement giving one possible solution.
A student may come out with a new function which does the
above work. Smarter logic will always be rewarded suitably in
terms of marks.

Challenging Task SessionCSE1001

 Objectives of Challenging Task Sessions
Sample questions
Time Budget
Motivating the students

A NOTHER PROBLEM

You are given a list of n2 numbers. n is an integer. Write a code

(i) To form a nXn matrix A with those n2 entries such that every
row and every column of the matrix are in the increasing order
(That is, the successive entries are either greater or equal )
(ii)To compute the inverse of A
(iii) To check whether all the rows and columns of Inverse of A
are also in the increasing order or not.

.
The definition of the inverse of a matrix shall be provided.

Challenging Task SessionCSE1001

 Objectives of Challenging Task Sessions
Sample questions
Time Budget
Motivating the students

R EQUIREMENT FOR THE PROBLEM

If we sort the given n2 numbers, then fill the matrix

sequentially(row wise or column wise) with the sorted
numbers. Without sorting also, one can do this.
Instead, they can start with the smallest of the given
numbers, for the (1, 1) position, then fill the (1, 2), (2, 1)
positions with the next bigger number (than the one put in
the (1, 1) position). Like this, one can fill the first row and
the first column.
Then , one can take the (2, 2) position and fill the second
row and the second column .

Challenging Task SessionCSE1001

 Objectives of Challenging Task Sessions
Sample questions
Time Budget
Motivating the students

For the new matrix, one has to find the inverse.

We have to check whether all the columns of the inverse is
in the increasing order or not.

Challenging Task SessionCSE1001

 Objectives of Challenging Task Sessions
Sample questions
Time Budget
Motivating the students

T IME B UDGET- A ROUGH E STIMATE

Understanding the problems 15 minutes

Developing the logic to solve 15 minutes
Writing the pseudo-code 10 minutes
Deciding the appropriate constructs 10 minutes
Writing the code 20 minutes
Compiling the code 10 minutes
Testing different cases 5 minutes
Buffer time 15 minutes
A tentative plan!!!

Challenging Task SessionCSE1001

 Objectives of Challenging Task Sessions
Sample questions
Time Budget
Motivating the students

T O M OTIVATE THE STUDENTS

All teachers are requested to motivate the students to take the
Challenging Task Sessions (CTS) more seriously
May be, we can orient them like
You have done the practice sessions, Assessment
sessions seriously, it is going to be another assessment
with a new problem, may be a little more difficult. But, You
are capable of that.
Weight for the CTS is 10% , much more than the Practice
Sessions and the Assessment Sessions
Only one Problem will be given and you have to code that
out!. Thats all.
Practice more problems so that you can do well in the
Challenging task sessions.
Increase the confidence level of the students.
Challenging Task SessionCSE1001
 Objectives of Challenging Task Sessions
Sample questions
Time Budget
Motivating the students

P LEASE INFORM THE STUDENTS

Read the problem carefully and understand that. Repeated
readings will throw more light on the problem.
Once the problem is understood, it is half-solved.
Well-begun is half-done!!
Whatever idea/logic the students deem fit for the problem,
let them record it immediately;
Be conscious of the time . Student should not end up like :
thinking on the problems for the full duration and could not
record anything.
If they are not able to solve them fully, the students could
write the code for partial problem (relaxing certain
constraints) etc.
Coding with a very good logic (smart ones) will be suitably
rewarded.
Challenging Task SessionCSE1001