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5. A spreadsheet is a program that automates various computa
tions in tables. Thus, spreadsheets are widely used in account
ing, budgeting, and planning applications. A recent version of
a popular spreadsheet program introduced the following fea
ture: With a certain obscure sequence of keystrokes, a lunar
landing game appeared. The user could explore a moonscape
using various keys. Eventually, a careful explorer could un
cover a tablet that contained the names of the members of the
development team for the spreadsheet.
a. Do you think the inclusion of this game was appropriate?
b. What implications might the inclusion of this game have
on the correctness of the spreadsheet?
c. Could the inclusion of this game have any impact on users
who did not know about this feature?
d. If you were the manager of the programming team that in
cluded this game, what (if any) actions would you take in
interacting with the individual programmers?
In each case, explain your answers.
Exercises
1. One theme for this chapter is the “combinatorial explosion.”
a. Give a definition for this term.
b. For each of the other words or phrases in the “Terminology
from this Chapter,” provide a careful definition.
c. For each term in part b, indicate how that term relates to
the concept of the combinatorial explosion.
2. The first part of this chapter presents several different formu
lae for payments based upon the size of a chessboard.
Determine how many kernels of corn would be required for
boards with 20 or 50 or 100 squares for each of the payment
algorithms given.
3. In a modern computer, the CPU might execute a million or so
instructions per second. On the average, such a computer
would finish one instruction every one millionth of a second,
or a microsecond.
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