Greedy vs DP How to Know Which to Apply in DSA C - Interactive Comparison Practice

Practice - 5 Tasks

1fill in blank

easy

Complete the code to check if the problem has optimal substructure property.

DSA C

if (problem_has_optimal_substructure == [1]) {
    printf("Use DP\n");
} else {
    printf("Use Greedy\n");
}

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

A0

Btrue

C1

Dfalse

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Confusing optimal substructure with greedy choice property.

Using false instead of true for optimal substructure.

If a problem has optimal substructure, it means the best solution can be built from best solutions of subproblems, so dynamic programming (DP) is suitable.

2fill in blank

medium

Complete the code to check if the problem has greedy choice property.

DSA C

if (problem_has_greedy_choice_property == [1]) {
    printf("Use Greedy\n");
} else {
    printf("Use DP\n");
}

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

A0

Bfalse

C1

Dtrue

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Assuming greedy choice property is always true.

Using false instead of true for greedy choice property.

Greedy choice property means a local optimal choice leads to a global optimal solution, so greedy algorithms work.

3fill in blank

hard

Fix the error in the code that decides which algorithm to apply based on properties.

DSA C

if (has_optimal_substructure && [1]) {
    printf("Use DP\n");
} else if (has_greedy_choice_property) {
    printf("Use Greedy\n");
} else {
    printf("No simple solution\n");
}

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

A!has_greedy_choice_property

Bhas_greedy_choice_property

Ctrue

Dfalse

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using has_greedy_choice_property instead of its negation.

Confusing the conditions for DP and greedy.

DP is used when the problem has optimal substructure but does not have greedy choice property.

4fill in blank

hard

Fill both blanks to complete the function that decides algorithm type based on problem properties.

DSA C

const char* choose_algorithm(bool has_optimal_substructure, bool has_greedy_choice_property) {
    if (has_optimal_substructure && [1]) {
        return "DP";
    } else if ([2]) {
        return "Greedy";
    } else {
        return "No simple solution";
    }
}

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

A!has_greedy_choice_property

Bhas_greedy_choice_property

Chas_optimal_substructure

D!has_optimal_substructure

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Mixing up the conditions for DP and greedy.

Using wrong negations.

The function returns "DP" if the problem has optimal substructure but not greedy choice property, "Greedy" if it has greedy choice property, else no simple solution.

5fill in blank

hard

Fill all three blanks to complete the code that prints the recommended algorithm based on problem properties.

DSA C

void print_algorithm(bool has_optimal_substructure, bool has_greedy_choice_property) {
    if (has_optimal_substructure && [1]) {
        printf("Use DP\n");
    } else if ([2]) {
        printf("Use Greedy\n");
    } else if ([3]) {
        printf("No simple solution\n");
    }
}

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

A!has_greedy_choice_property

Bhas_greedy_choice_property

C!has_optimal_substructure

Dtrue

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Not negating greedy choice property for DP condition.

Missing the always true condition for the last else if.

The code prints "Use DP" if optimal substructure is true and greedy choice property is false, "Use Greedy" if greedy choice property is true, else "No simple solution".