Other computational methods (2.2.2 f)

Question 1

What is heuristics?

Answer 1

finding a solution to a problem that is good enough
saves computation time at the cost of perfection

Question 2

Tractable - heurisitics

Answer 2

can be solved in a reasonable time
sorting
searching

Question 3

Intractable - heuristics

Answer 3

timetabling
path finding (heuristic algo vs A*)

Question 4

Pathfinding

Answer 4

Question 5

What is backtracking?

Answer 5

returning to a previous decision point to try a new potential solution
e.g tree traversal mazes

Question 6

What is data mining?

Answer 6

the process of understanding large quantities of data to find useful information
done on big data

Question 7

What is big data?

Answer 7

extremely large data sets

Question 8

Benefits of data mining

Answer 8

can help organisations improve their services
identify unexpected trends
large sets of data produces more accurate conclusions
this information can then be used to allow the organisation to make strategic choices and amend the services that they provide to improve client experiences or increase their revenue

Question 9

Drawbacks of data mining

Answer 9

data is personal this means that it must be handled with care
processing data without the appropriate permission from the data subject or without sufficient safeguards in place is a crime under the data protection act 2018
some data subjects may have concerns about how their data is being used and may opt out of a service
for big data you need machines with a lot of processing power and expert knowledge in handling vast quantities of data
companies may need an external company to use data mining

Question 10

What is pipelining? - computational method

Answer 10

using the result of one process feeding into the next