Algorithmic puzzles are puzzles involving well-defined procedures for solving problems. This book will provide an enjoyable and accessible introduction to algorithmic puzzles that will develop the reader's algorithmic thinking. The first part of this book is a tutorial on algorithm design strategies and analysis techniques. Algorithm design strategies - exhaustive search, backtracking, divide-and-conquer and a few others - are general approaches to designing step-by-step instructions for solving problems. Analysis techniques are methods for investigating such procedures to answer questions about the ultimate result of the procedure or how many steps are executed before the procedure stops. The discussion is an elementary level, with puzzle examples, and requires neither programming nor mathematics beyond a secondary school level. Thus, the tutorial provides a gentle and entertaining introduction to main ideas in high-level algorithmic problem solving. The second and main part of the book contains 150 puzzles, from centuries-old classics to newcomers often asked during job interviews at computing, engineering, and financial companies. The puzzles are divided into three groups by their difficulty levels. The first fifty puzzles in the Easier Puzzles section require only middle school mathematics. The sixty puzzle of average difficulty and forty harder puzzles require just high school mathematics plus a few topics such as binary numbers and simple recurrences, which are reviewed in the tutorial. All the puzzles are provided with hints, detailed solutions, and brief comments. The comments deal with the puzzle origins and design or analysis techniques used in the solution. The book should be of interest to puzzle lovers, students and teachers of algorithm courses, and persons expecting to be given puzzles during job interviews.

作者簡介

Anany Levitin，美國Villanova大學計算科學教授。他是一本算法設計和分析名著的作者，該書被譯為中文、希臘文等多國語言。他還在數學最優化算法、軟件工程、數據管理、算法設計和計算機科學教育等領域發錶過多篇論文。

Maria Levitin，獨立谘詢師。她在大型軟件公司有多年的商業應用軟件開發經驗，現在她專注於Web應用和無綫計算領域。

譯者簡介

趙勇，電子科技大學教授，極限網絡計算與服務實驗室主任，中國計算機學會大數據專傢委員會委員。美國芝加哥大學博士，師從世界網格之父Ian Foster教授，其間在美國IBM研發中心、美國Argonne國傢實驗室實習。博士畢業後任職美國微軟公司搜索與廣告部，從事雲平颱上的大型廣告係統開發，獲微軟傑齣員工奬。

徐章寜，1984年生，畢業於上海交通大學。在EMC中國卓越研發集團任高級係統管理工程師，鍾愛開源軟件，從事軟件運維工作多年。對各類知識有廣泛興趣，平日喜愛參與問答網站討論，熱愛讀書攝影和寫作。

高博，1983年生，畢業於上海交通大學。目前在EMC中國卓越研發集團任首席工程師，在信息科學和工程領域有近15年實踐和研究經驗。酷愛讀書和寫作，業餘研究興趣涉獵廣泛。譯著包括圖靈奬作者高德納的《研究之美》和布魯剋斯的《設計原本》，以及Jolt大奬作品《基元設計模式》等。近年來，齣版翻譯作品近百萬字。