MSc CDA Take-Home Programming Test September 2024
MASTER OF SCIENCE
COMPUTING & DATA ANALYTICS
Master of Science in Computing & Data Analytics
Take-Home Programming Test
September 2024 Admission
Applicants to the Master of Science in Computing & Data Analytics program at Saint Mary’s University must
complete both a take-home programming test and a technical interview to be considered for admission into the
program.
Take-Home Programming Test
Complete the following three questions on your own. You can write programs in any language; however, we
strongly recommend Java, C++, C, or C#.
Compile, run, and test your programs and please submit to cda.test@smu.ca:
1. The code for your programs (.docx or .txt format)
*NOTE we will not review any code sent in pdf or image formats
2. Screenshots of three successful program runs proving that your programs function (.pdf format)
* Alternately, you can submit your code by sharing your repo through Replit (https://replit.com/) instead of
the text/docx file. We still require the screenshots of the three successful program runs even with the
Replit repo sharing.
If we discover errors in your submission, we will provide feedback and request you to correct problems and
resubmit for review. The Admissions Committee typically provides one opportunity to correct errors.
MSc CDA Take-Home Programming Test September 2024
MASTER OF SCIENCE
COMPUTING & DATA ANALYTICS
Question 1
Write a program to calculate the volume, LSA, TSA and slant height of a square pyramid having height h being
an odd number ranging from 1 to N and side length a, where N and a are inputs provided by the user.
Please find out the formulae for volume, LSA, TSA and slant height of a square pyramid.
(* Hint: Round off the value of Volume of the square pyramid)
MSc CDA Take-Home Programming Test September 2024
MASTER OF SCIENCE
COMPUTING & DATA ANALYTICS
Question 2
Write a program to measure the economy of countries by calculating their Growth Rate.
If for a given period the GDP value at the beginning and subsequent year is known, calculate the Growth Rate
(GR) of the country for each year, the Average Annual Growth Rate (AAGR) and the Compound Annual
Growth Rate (CAGR). Also, measure the relative riskiness of the country’s economy based on its standard
deviation.
The program should:
• Read the number of countries a
• Read the number of years n
• Use array of length a to store the following:
o the name of the country
o an array of GDP i.e., of length of years n
o an array of GR values i.e., of length of years n
• For each country’s GDP value and corresponding year, calculate the growth rate (GR) and its ranking.
i.e.:
<Growth Rate (GR)> = (EV-BV)
 BV
 where:
 EV (Ending Value) = <GDP Value of the current year >
 BV (Beginning Value) = < GDP Value of the previous year>
(* Hint: Round the GR value to two decimal places)
<Ranking> = GR > 25 = Exceptional
 GR > 0 = Good
 GR < 0 = Poor
• For each country calculate the average annual growth rate, compound annual growth rate and
standard deviation.
<Average Annual Growth Rate> = <Sum of “Growth Rate” / n>
< Compound Annual Growth Rate > =
where:
EV = <GDP Value of the final year >
 BV = < GDP Value of the beginning year>
<Standard Deviation> =
where:
x = <Mean of GR values>
xi = < GR Value of each year>
(* Hint: Round the GR, AAGR and CAGR to two decimal places and Stdev to three decimal places)
MSc CDA Take-Home Programming Test September 2024
MASTER OF SCIENCE
COMPUTING & DATA ANALYTICS
Print the following for each country:
• the country name
• for a specific year; the GDP Value, Growth Rate and Ranking
• the average annual growth rate
• the compound annual growth rate
• the standard deviation
At the end:
• Compare the standard deviation of each country to measure the economy volatility based on the
minimum standard deviation with the following condition:
➢ If minimum standard deviation < 25, then print;
“The Country <country name>'s economy is most stable”
➢ If minimum standard deviation > 25, then print;
“The Country <country name>'s economy is least risky”
(Example runs of the completed program are shown on the next page)
MSc CDA Take-Home Programming Test September 2024
MASTER OF SCIENCE
COMPUTING & DATA ANALYTICS
MSc CDA Take-Home Programming Test September 2024
MASTER OF SCIENCE
COMPUTING & DATA ANALYTICS
MSc CDA Take-Home Programming Test September 2024
MASTER OF SCIENCE
COMPUTING & DATA ANALYTICS
MSc CDA Take-Home Programming Test September 2024
MASTER OF SCIENCE
COMPUTING & DATA ANALYTICS
Question 3
Using SQL perform the below functions on the following table showing list of products sold.
1. There are functional dependencies in this table, so first, normalise the relation/table to the second normal
form (2NF). Please show the resulting table(s) after the normalization.
2. Using the table(s) in 2NF, write a query to display the total quantity purchased per year for each category,
sorted by category and year.
(P.S. - for this question we are just looking for the SQL table(s) and query)
(Example output of the query is shown below)
MSc CDA Take-Home Programming Test September 2024
MASTER OF SCIENCE
COMPUTING & DATA ANALYTICS
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