Standard methods of solution

Totalling

• Totalling means keeping a total that values are added to.
• For example, keeping a running total of the marks awarded to each student in a class.

Counting

• Keeping a count of the number of times an action is performed is another standard method.
• For example, counting the number of students that were awarded a pass mark

Maximum, minimum

• Finding the largest and smallest values in a list are two standard methods that are frequently found in algorithms, for example, finding the highest and lowest mark awarded to a class of students.

Average

• Calculating the average (mean) of all the values in a list is an extension of the totalling method, for example, calculating the average mark for a class of students.

Linear search

• Linear search inspects each item in a list in turn to see if the item matches the value searched for.

• In this example, the search checks how many people chose ice cream as their favourite dessert, where several values in the list can be the same.

Bubble sort

• This method of sorting is called a bubble sort.
• Each element is compared with the next element and swapped if the elements are in the wrong order, starting from the first element and finishing with next-to-last element.
• Once it reaches the end of the list, we can be sure that the last element is now in the correct place.
• However, other items in the list may still be out of order.
• Each element in the list is compared again apart from the last one because we know the final element is in the correct place.
• This continues to repeat until there is only one element left to check or no swaps are made.