Algorithmic puzzles are puzzles involving well-defined procedures for solving problems. This book will provide an enjoyable and accessible introduction to algorithmic puzzles that will develop the reader's algorithmic thinking. The first part of this book is a tutorial on algorithm design strategies and analysis techniques. Algorithm design strategies - exhaustive search, backtracking, divide-and-conquer and a few others - are general approaches to designing step-by-step instructions for solving problems. Analysis techniques are methods for investigating such procedures to answer questions about the ultimate result of the procedure or how many steps are executed before the procedure stops. The discussion is an elementary level, with puzzle examples, and requires neither programming nor mathematics beyond a secondary school level. Thus, the tutorial provides a gentle and entertaining introduction to main ideas in high-level algorithmic problem solving. The second and main part of the book contains 150 puzzles, from centuries-old classics to newcomers often asked during job interviews at computing, engineering, and financial companies. The puzzles are divided into three groups by their difficulty levels. The first fifty puzzles in the Easier Puzzles section require only middle school mathematics. The sixty puzzle of average difficulty and forty harder puzzles require just high school mathematics plus a few topics such as binary numbers and simple recurrences, which are reviewed in the tutorial. All the puzzles are provided with hints, detailed solutions, and brief comments. The comments deal with the puzzle origins and design or analysis techniques used in the solution. The book should be of interest to puzzle lovers, students and teachers of algorithm courses, and persons expecting to be given puzzles during job interviews.

作者简介

Anany Levitin,美国Villanova大学计算科学教授。他是一本算法设计和分析名著的作者,该书被译为中文、希腊文等多国语言。他还在数学最优化算法、软件工程、数据管理、算法设计和计算机科学教育等领域发表过多篇论文。

Maria Levitin,独立咨询师。她在大型软件公司有多年的商业应用软件开发经验,现在她专注于Web应用和无线计算领域。

译者简介

赵勇,电子科技大学教授,极限网络计算与服务实验室主任,中国计算机学会大数据专家委员会委员。美国芝加哥大学博士,师从世界网格之父Ian Foster教授,其间在美国IBM研发中心、美国Argonne国家实验室实习。博士毕业后任职美国微软公司搜索与广告部,从事云平台上的大型广告系统开发,获微软杰出员工奖。

徐章宁,1984年生,毕业于上海交通大学。在EMC中国卓越研发集团任高级系统管理工程师,钟爱开源软件,从事软件运维工作多年。对各类知识有广泛兴趣,平日喜爱参与问答网站讨论,热爱读书摄影和写作。

高博,1983年生,毕业于上海交通大学。目前在EMC中国卓越研发集团任首席工程师,在信息科学和工程领域有近15年实践和研究经验。酷爱读书和写作,业余研究兴趣涉猎广泛。译著包括图灵奖作者高德纳的《研究之美》和布鲁克斯的《设计原本》,以及Jolt大奖作品《基元设计模式》等。近年来,出版翻译作品近百万字。