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• The far side of recursion

  57-71

  Michael A. Wirth

  Views:

  17

  Recursion is somewhat of an enigma, and examples used to illustrate the idea of recursion often emphasize three algorithms: Towers of Hanoi, Factorial, and Fibonacci, often sacrificing the exploration of recursive behavior for the notion that a "function calls itself". Very little effort is spent on more interesting recursive algorithms. This paper looks at how three lesser known algorithms of recursion can be used in teaching behavioral aspects of recursion: The Josephus Problem, the Hailstone Sequence and Ackermann's Function.

• Fibonacci beyond binary recursion

  173-185

  Michael A. Wirth

  Views:

  27

  The Fibonacci series is a classical algorithm taught in computer science, usually implemented in some programming language. It is hard to find a programming textbook which doesn't touch on Fibonacci, and it's most common use is in the illustration of binary recursion. There are also many ways of tailoring the basic algorithm in order to implement it. This paper discusses some novel algorithms, which help address some of the limitations of binary recursion, but also illustrate how differing algorithms can be pedagogically beneficial. We introduce a simple algorithm for accurately calculating any Fibonacci number.

• Shall we use one more representation? Suggestions about establishing the notion of recursion in teaching informatics in primary schools

  209-229

  Cecília Sitkuné Görömbei

  Views:

  27

  Among the most prominent developmental tasks of primary school education one finds increasing pupils' cognitive capacity with especial regard to observing, interpreting, coding and proving skills, which form an integral part of information and communication culture.
  Info-technology (problem solving with the tools and methods of informatics), a subject matter within informatics, provides outstanding opportunities to reach the aims outlined above.
  This study presents methodological ideas related to the subfield Algorithmization and data modelling of Info-technology. More specifically, it presents teaching methods to be applied while establishing the notion of recursion in grades 3–8 of primary education, and at the same time it also focuses on various realization possibilities of the prominent developmental tasks mentioned above.

• The study of sequences defined by a first order recursion by means of a pocket calculator

  231-240

  Zoltán Tuzson

  Views:

  29

  This paper will present the way we can use a simple pocket calculator to teach mathematics. Namely, a pocket calculator can be very useful to study the properties of sequences defined by first order recursion (e.g. monotonicity, boundedness and convergence) and to gain a deeper understanding.

• CS unplugged in higher education

  1-23

  Kinga Kovácsné Pusztai

  Views:

  39

  Nowadays, there is a significant lack of workforce in the IT industry, even though it is one of the most lucrative professions. According to researchers' forecasts, the existing shortage is growing, so the wages offered will be higher, yet it seems that young people are not attracted to the profession. This problem draws attention to the need to change the curriculum so that it can attract students more. One possible solution is to supplement the curriculum with CS Unplugged activities, which makes it easier to understand and deepen difficult concepts and make IT lessons more colorful. In my article, besides presenting the already known CS Unplugged activities, I will deal with how this can be applied in Hungarian higher education as well.

• Combinatorics – competition – Excel

  427-435

  László Zsakó

  Views:

  31

  In 2001 the Informatics Points Competition of the Mathematics Journal for Secondary School Students (KÖMAL) was restarted [1]. The editors set themselves an aim to make the formerly mere programming competition a bit more varied. Therefore, every month there has been published a spreadsheet problem, a part of which was related to combinatorics. This article is intended to discuss the above mentioned problems and the solutions given to them at competitions. We will prove that traditional mathematical and programming tasks can be solved with a system developed for application purposes when applying a different way of thinking.