Epic Skills Assessment Algorithmic Problem Solving Questions and Answers 3

Question 1

What does a hash table provide for average-case lookup operations?

Accepted Answer

O(1)

Answer

Hash tables provide O(1) average-case lookup by computing the index directly from the key via a hash function.

Question 2

An algorithm doubles its run time for every additional input element. What is its time complexity?

Accepted Answer

O(2ⁿ)

Answer

If run time doubles with each additional element, the complexity is exponential: O(2ⁿ).

Question 3

Which of the following is an example of a greedy algorithm?

Accepted Answer

Dijkstra's Shortest Path

Answer

Dijkstra's algorithm is greedy — it always picks the unvisited node with the smallest known distance, making a locally optimal choice at each step.

Question 4

What is the space complexity of an iterative (non-recursive) Fibonacci function?

Accepted Answer

O(1)

Answer

An iterative Fibonacci function only stores a constant number of variables (the last two values), so space complexity is O(1).

Question 5

Given a sorted list [1,3,5,7,9,11], what is the maximum number of comparisons binary search needs to find 11?

Accepted Answer

3

Answer

n=6, log₂(6)≈2.58, so at most 3 comparisons (ceiling). Steps: mid=5(index 2), 11>5 → right half [7,9,11]; mid=9(index 4), 11>9 → right [11]; mid=11, found. That's 3 comparisons.

Epic Skills Assessment Practice Test

Epic Skills Assessment Practice Test

Epic Skills Assessment Algorithmic Problem Solving Questions and Answers 3