Cambridge International AS & A Level

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Hom es + 786
* 2 3 2 3 4 6 9 7 5 8 *

COMPUTER SCIENCE 9618/22

Paper 2 Fundamental Problem-solving and Programming Skills May/June 2024

2 hours

You must answer on the question paper.

You will need: Insert (enclosed)

INSTRUCTIONS
● Answer all questions.
● Use a black or dark blue pen.
● Write your name, centre number and candidate number in the boxes at the top of the page.
● Write your answer to each question in the space provided.
● Do not use an erasable pen or correction fluid.
● Do not write on any bar codes.
● You may use an HB pencil for any diagrams, graphs or rough working.
● Calculators must not be used in this paper.

INFORMATION
● The total mark for this paper is 75.
● The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].
● No marks will be awarded for using brand names of software packages or hardware.
● The insert contains all the resources referred to in the questions.

This document has 24 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

DC (PQ/CGW) 329350/3
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Refer to the insert for the list of pseudocode functions and operators.

1 (a) The following table contains pseudocode examples.

Each example may contain statements that relate to one or more of the following:
• selection
• iteration (repetition)
• input/output.

Complete the table by placing one or more ticks (3) in each row.

Pseudocode example Selection Iteration Input/Output

FOR Index 1 TO 10
Data[Index] 0
NEXT Index
WRITEFILE ThisFile, "****"

UNTIL Level > 25

IF Mark > 74 THEN
READFILE OldFile, Data
ENDIF
[4]

(b) Program variables have data types as follows:

Variable Data type

MyChar CHAR

MyString STRING

MyInt INTEGER

Complete the table by filling in each gap with a function (from the insert) so that each expression
is valid.

Expression

MyInt INT (3.1415926)

..........................................

MyChar MID
.......................................... ("Elwood", 3, 1)

MyString NUM-TO-STR
.......................................... INT (27.509))
( ..........................................

MyInt STR-TO Num ( ..........................................

..........................................
-
RIGHT ("ABC123", 3))
[4]

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(c) The variables given in part (b) are chosen during the design stage of the program development
life cycle.

The choices are to be documented to simplify program maintenance.

State a suitable way of documenting the variables and give one piece of information that
should be recorded, in addition to the data type.
Identifier Table
...................................................................................................................................................

Explanation of what each variable is used for

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2 A program is being developed.

(a) An algorithm for part of the program will:

• input three numeric values and assign them to identifiers Num1, Num2 and Num3
• assign the largest value to variable Ans
• output a message giving the largest value and the average of the three numeric values.

Assume the values are all different and are input in no particular order.

Complete the program flowchart on page 5 to represent the algorithm.

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START

INPUT Numl, Num2, Num3

IS
NUMA> Num] AND No
Num1) Num3

&

Yes Is

Num2) Num1
AND No

Num2 > Hum3

Yes

Ans Num1 Anse Num2 Ans Numb

Ange (Num1 + Num2 +

Hum3) /3

output "The
Largectis" . Ans , "and
the
average is
"Ang

END

[5]

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(b) A different part of the program contains an algorithm represented by the following program
flowchart:

START

Set Flag to GetStat()

Is Flag = Yes
TRUE ?

No END

Set Port to 1

No
Is Port = 4 ?

CALL Reset(Port)
Yes

Set Port to Port + 1

Write pseudocode for the algorithm.

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3 A factory needs a program to help manage its production of items.

Data will be stored about each item.

The data for each item will be held in a record structure of type Component.

The programmer has started to define the fields that will be needed as shown in the table.

Field Example value Comment

Item_Num 123478 a numeric value used as an array index
Reject FALSE TRUE if this item has been rejected
Stage 'B' a letter to indicate the stage of production
Limit_1 13.5 any value in the range 0 to 100 inclusive
Limit_2 26.4 any value in the range 0 to 100 inclusive

(a) (i) Write pseudocode to declare the record structure for type Component.

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(ii) A 1D array Item of 2000 elements will store the data for all items.

Write pseudocode to declare the Item array.

DECLARE Stem : ARRAY [1 : 2000] OF
Component
...........................................................................................................................................

..................................................................................................................................... [2]

(b) State three benefits of using an array of records to store the data for all items.

Simplifies the code as different

datatypes under
1 ................................................................................................................................................
one identifier are .
managed
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Reduces of
duplication code
2 ................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................
Allows for iteration over the items
.
easily
3 ................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................
[3]
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4 A triangle has sides of length A, B and C.

B C

In this example, A is the length of the longest side.

This triangle is said to be right-angled if the following equation is true:

A × A = (B × B) + (C × C)

A procedure will be written to check whether three lengths represent a right-angled triangle.
The lengths will be input in any sequence.

The procedure IsRA() will:

• prompt and input three integer values representing the three lengths
• test whether the three lengths correspond to the sides of a right-angled triangle
• output a suitable message.

The length of the longest side may not be the first value input.

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Write pseudocode for the procedure IsRA().

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5 A program is being designed in pseudocode.

The program contains a global 1D array Data of type string containing 200 elements.

The first element has the index value 1.

A procedure Process() is written to initialise the values in the array:

PROCEDURE Process(Label : STRING)

DECLARE Index : INTEGER
*3 Index 0 -
INPUT Data[Index]
> index is
1 and not 0 .

WHILE Index < 200

Index Index + 1
Initial
CASE OF (Index MOD 2)
0 : Data[Index] TO_UPPER(Label)
1 : Data[Index] TO_LOWER(Label)
OTHERWISE : OUTPUT "Alarm 1201"
ENDCASE
# NEXT Index ANDWHILE
D OUTPUT "Completed " & Index & " times"
ENDPROCEDURE > can't concatenate on
In you string wilfe
(a) (i) The pseudocode contains two syntax errors and one other error. integer
Identify the errors.

#g
Syntax error 1 ....................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

*
Syntax error 2 ....................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................
It will accen
# array element O ,
Other error .........................................................................................................................
3
which doesn't exist .

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[3]

(ii) The procedure contains a statement that is not needed.

Identify the pseudocode statement and explain why it is not needed.

OTHERWISE : OUTPUT "Alarm 1201"

Statement ..........................................................................................................................
The result 1 MOD2 will
alwaysand be 0001
Explanation .......................................................................................................................
.

So the OTHERWISE case will be useless never

...........................................................................................................................................
,

used [2]

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(b) After correcting all syntax errors, the pseudocode is translated into program code which
compiles without generating any errors.

When the program is executed it unexpectedly stops responding.

Identify the type of error that has occurred.

Runtime
............................................................................................................................................. [1]
.

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6 A music player stores music in a digital form and has a display which shows the track being
played.

(a) Up to 16 characters can be displayed. Track titles longer than 16 characters will need to be
trimmed as follows:
• Words must be removed from the end of the track title until the resulting title is less than
14 characters.
• When a word is removed, the space in front of that word is also removed.
• Three dots are added to the end of the last word displayed when one or more words
have been removed.

The table below shows some examples:

Original title Display string

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Bat out of Hull B a t o u t o f H u l l

Bohemian Symphony B o h e m i a n . . .

Paperbook Writer P a p e r b o o k W r i t e r

Chris Sings the Blues C h r i s S i n g s . . .

Green Home Alabama G r e e n H o m e . . .

A function Trim() will:

• take a string representing the original title
• return the string to be displayed.

Assume:
• Words in the original title are separated by a single space character.
• There are no spaces before the first word or after the last word of the original title.
• The first word of the original title is less than 14 characters.

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Write pseudocode for the function Trim().

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(b) Music is stored as a sequence of digital samples.

Each digital sample is a denary value in the range 0 to 99999999 (8 digits).

The samples are to be stored in a text file. Each sample is converted to a numeric string and
32 samples are concatenated (joined) to form a single line of the text file.

Each numeric string is 8 characters in length; leading ‘0’ characters are added as required.

Example:

Sample Denary value String

1 456 "00000456"
2 48 "00000048"
3 37652 "00037652"

32 673 "00000673"

The example samples will be stored in the text file as a single line:

"000004560000004800037652...00000673"

(i) Identify one drawback of adding leading ‘0’ characters to each numeric string.
A
very large file is created as redundant zeros
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are stored
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(ii) Suggest an alternative method of storing the samples which does not involve adding
leading ‘0’ characters but which would still allow each individual sample to be extracted.
Valves are separated by a
special character .
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(iii) State one drawback of the alternative method given in part (b)(ii).
The algorithm will become
complex as will
...........................................................................................................................................
extract individual values It takes longer
.....................................................................................................................................
.

[1]

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7 A fitness club has a computerised membership system.

The system stores information for each club member: name, home address, email address, mobile
phone number, date of birth and exercise preferences.

Many classes are full, and the club creates a waiting list for each class. The club adds details of
members who want to join a class that is full to the waiting list for that class.

When the system identifies that a space is available in one of the classes, a new module will send
a text message to each member who is on the waiting list.

(a) Decomposition will be used to break the new module into sub-modules (sub-problems).

Identify three sub-modules that could be used in the design and describe their use.

Identify Member((
Sub-module 1 ...........................................................................................................................

identifies an club member who has expressed

Use ...........................................................................................................................................
an interest in a
given class .
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GetMember PhoneNumber()
Sub-module 2 ...........................................................................................................................
Gets the mobile number of the member
Use ...........................................................................................................................................

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Create
message()
Sub-module 3 ...........................................................................................................................
Generates a text to member
message a
Use ...........................................................................................................................................

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[3]

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(b) A different part of the program is represented by the following state-transition diagram.

Input-B | Output-W
Input-B
Input-B
START
S1 S3 S2 S5

Input-A
Input-A Input-A | Output-W

Input-B | Output-Y
Input-A | Output-X
S4

(i) Complete the table to show the inputs, outputs and next states.

Assume that the current state for each row is given by the ‘Next state’ on the previous
row. For example, the first Input-A is made when in state S1.

If there is no output for a given transition, then the output cell should contain ‘none’.

The first two rows have been completed.

Input Output Next state

S1

Input-A none S3

Input-A Output-W S3

Input-B none S2

Input-B none 55

Input-A none S2

Input-A Output-X S4
[5]

(ii) Identify the input sequence that will cause the minimum number of state changes in the
transition from S1 to S4.

Input-By Input-A
..................................................................................................................................... [1]

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8 A teacher is designing a program to process pseudocode projects written by her students.

Each student project is stored in a text file.

The process is split into a number of stages. Each stage performs a different task and creates a
new file.

For example:

File name Comment

MichaelAday_src.txt Student project file produced by student Michael Aday

MichaelAday_S1.txt File produced by stage 1

MichaelAday_S2.txt File produced by stage 2

(a) Suggest a reason why the teacher’s program has been split into a number of stages and give
the benefit of producing a different file from each stage.
Easier to design , implement ,
feet , and modify each
Reason .....................................................................................................................................

Stage
-

...................................................................................................................................................
Easier to check the stage has produced the
Benefit ......................................................................................................................................

expected output
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[2]

(b) The teacher has defined the first program module as follows:

Module Description
DeleteSpaces() • called with a parameter of type string representing a line of
pseudocode from a student’s project file
• returns the line after removing any leading space characters

The following example shows a string before and after the leading
spaces have been removed:

Before: " IF X2 > 13 THEN"

After: "IF X2 > 13 THEN"

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Complete the pseudocode for module DeleteSpaces().

FUNCTION DeleteSpaces(Line : STRING) RETURNS STRING

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ENDFUNCTION [6]

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(c) Two modules are defined:

Module Description
DeleteComment() • called with a parameter of type string representing a line of
(already written) pseudocode from a student’s project file
• returns the line after removing any comment
Stage_2() • called with two parameters:
○ a string representing an input file name
○ a string representing an output file name
• copies each line from the input file to the existing output file having
first removed all leading spaces and comments from that line
• does not write blank lines to the output file
• outputs a final message giving the number of blank lines removed

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Write pseudocode for module Stage_2().

Modules DeleteComment() and DeleteSpaces() must be used in your solution.

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at www.cambridgeinternational.org after the live examination series.

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© UCLES 2024 9618/22/M/J/24