NPTEL Data Structures and Algorithms Design Week 1 Assignment Answers 2025
1. You are given a sorted array from 1 to n, but one number is missing. What is a good way to find the missing number?
- Use the expected sum and subtract actual sum
- Sort the array again and scan
- Guess the missing number
- Randomly sample elements
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2. In Merge Sort (ascending order), what is the order of elements after the second pass of merging for the array [20,28,11,2,3,1,27,25,8,17]
- 2, 11, 20, 28, 1, 3, 25, 27, 8, 17
- 2, 3, 11, 20, 28, 1, 8, 17, 25, 27
- 11, 20, 28, 1, 2, 3, 8, 25, 27, 17
- 1, 2, 3, 11, 20, 28, 8, 17, 25, 27
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3. Which algorithm of the following options uses the least number of comparisons (among the elements of the array) to sort the array A
in ascending order?
Where, A=[1,7,12,19,17,21,23].
- Selection sort
- Merge sort
- Insertion sort
- Quick sort
Answer :
4. Which of the following functions defines the Fibonacci sequence correctly?
- F(n) = F(n) + F(n+1)
- F(n) = F(n+1) + F(n+2)
- F(n) = F(n-1) + F(n-2)
- F(n) = F(n-1) – F(n-2)
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5. A sorting algorithm is called stable if it preserves the relative order of equal elements.
Which of the following is a stable sorting algorithm?
- Insertion Sort
- Quick Sort
- Heap Sort
- Selection Sort
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6. Which of the following is the most appropriate use of an array?
- Storing a fixed collection of elements where fast access is needed
- Implementing hierarchical relationships
- Representing nodes with multiple children
- Storing elements with frequent insertions and deletions
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7. Why does repeated squaring help in computing the nth Fibonacci number faster?
- Because matrix powers can be computed in logarithmic steps using exponentiation by squaring
- Fibonacci numbers follow a geometric sequence
- we can precompute all Fibonacci numbers and store them in an array
- recursion eliminates redundant calculations automatically
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8. Suppose you are given a list of n integers and a target sum. In the brute-force approach to the Subset Sum problem, how many possible subsets need to be checked in the worst case?
- 2n
- n2
- nâ‹…logn
- n!
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9. Which of the following is not a disadvantage of using arrays as a data structure?
- Arrays support constant-time access to any element using its index
- Arrays have fixed size and cannot be resized without reconstruction
- Inserting or deleting elements requires shifting multiple elements
- Arrays cannot model data with varying-length records efficiently
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10. Binary Search is an example of which algorithmic design paradigm?
- Divide and Conquer
- Greedy
- Dynamic Programming
- Backtracking
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