Information
The UCC Coding and Algorithms Academy is pleased to help host the 2020 University of Waterloo Beaver Computing Challenge at UCC. This challenge is a problem-solving contest with a focus on computational and logical thinking. Questions are inspired by topics in computer science but only require comfort with concepts found in a regular mathematics curriculum.
More details about the competition be found here, and problems from past contests can be found here.
If you're interested in this contest, please use this Google Form to sign up by Monday, November 2.
The contest will be held on one day during the weeks of Nov 9 and 16, 2020. More logistical information will be sent to those who are signed up closer to the date of the contest. We expect that the contest will be held in a virtual format and participants should have some flexibility as to when they want to write the contest.
Intro Video
We are pleased to welcome students from the Prep School to participate in this contest alongside their Upper School peers. If you have any questions about the contest, please email colin.lum@ucc.on.ca or kevin.liu@ucc.on.ca after watching the below video.
The intro video below was made by Colin Lum, Junior Head of the UCC Coding and Algorithms Academy.
Example Problems
Problems from the official Beaver Computing Challenge website. Answers by Kevin Liu.
Problem 1 - Boxes
Boxes are shown below. Each box is labeled with its mass in kilograms.
Xena the delivery beaver fills out a form to order boxes. For example, to order boxes totaling exactly 9 kilograms, she fills out the form as follows:
How many check marks should she put on the form to order boxes totaling exactly 22 kilograms?
Answer choices: 1, 2, 3, or 4
The answer is 3.
Order the boxes weighing 2kg, 4kg, and 16kg to reach the required 22kg.
Problem 2 - Frog Jump
A frog gets exercise by jumping around a pond. It jumps from lily pad to lily pad in the sequence shown in the picture below. It starts at the lily pad labelled S. It ends on the lily pad as shown (i.e., the frog shown has finished jumping). Each black dot marks a lily pad on which the frog has landed.
The legend below labels each of the 8 possible directions of a jump with an integer from 0 to 7.
Which sequence describes the frog's path?
Answer choices:
4, 1, 0, 0, 0, 6, 6, 4, 4, 2, 2, 1
0, 0, 6, 6, 6, 4, 4, 2, 2, 4, 4, 1
0, 0, 6, 6, 6, 0, 0, 2, 2, 2, 2, 4, 4, 4
6, 6, 4, 4, 4, 2, 4, 1, 1, 1
The answer is: 0, 0, 6, 6, 6, 4, 4, 2, 2, 4, 4, 1
We can see that the frog moves towards the right first. Checking the legend, a move towards the right corresponds to a move in the direction 0.
Also, the frog ends by moving towards the up and right diagonal. The legend tells us that this is direction 1.
The answer 0, 0, 6, 6, 6, 4, 4, 2, 2, 4, 4, 1 is the only answer choice starting with 0 and ending with 1, so it must be the answer.
Problem 3 - Friend Photo
Lucia and her friends are part of an on-line social network.
Below is a diagram describing the relationships among Lucia and her friends. Each line indicates a friendship.
Lucia sends a photo to some of her friends. Each of those friends sends the photo to all of their friends.
Which of the following groups of friends can Lucia send her photo to so that Jacob is not sent the photo?
Answer choices:
Dana, Michael, Eve
Dana, Eve, Monica
Michael, Eve, Jacob
Michael, Peter, Monica
The answer is: Dana, Michael, Eve
Obviously, we cannot send the photo to Jacob, so the third answer choice is incorrect. Also, Monica is friends with Jacob, so we cannot send the photo to Monica. This rules out the second and fourth answer choices.
None of the people in the first answer choice are friends with Jacob. Therefore, the first answer choice is the correct answer.