ExpertEasy1 markMultiple Choice
AQA GCSE · Question 01.5 · Programming
The subroutine POSITION finds the first position of a character in a string.
For example, POSITION('Computing', 'p') would return 3.
The variable z is assigned a value using the statement:
z ← POSITION(landmark, 't')
Using Figure 1, what value is assigned to z?
(Note: The paper states to assume 0-based indexing unless specified otherwise.)
The subroutine POSITION finds the first position of a character in a string.
For example, POSITION('Computing', 'p') would return 3.
The variable z is assigned a value using the statement:
z ← POSITION(landmark, 't')
Using Figure 1, what value is assigned to z?
(Note: The paper states to assume 0-based indexing unless specified otherwise.)
Answer options:
A.
-1
B.
3
C.
4
D.
5
How to approach this question
1. Identify the value of `landmark`: "Alcatraz Island".
2. The function is `POSITION(landmark, 't')`, which looks for the first occurrence of the character 't'.
3. The general instruction for this paper is to assume 0-based indexing.
4. Let's find the index of 't' in "Alcatraz Island":
- A is at index 0
- l is at index 1
- c is at index 2
- a is at index 3
- t is at index 4
5. The first position of 't' is 4.
Full Answer
C.4✓ Correct
The correct answer is C (4). The `POSITION` function finds the index of the first occurrence of a character. The string `landmark` is "Alcatraz Island". Using 0-based indexing, the first 't' is at index 4.
The `POSITION` function (often called `find` or `indexOf` in programming languages) searches for a character or substring within a string and returns the index of its first occurrence. The exam specifies using 0-based indexing, meaning the first character is at index 0, the second at index 1, and so on.
In the string "Alcatraz Island":
- Index 0: 'A'
- Index 1: 'l'
- Index 2: 'c'
- Index 3: 'a'
- Index 4: 't'
The first time the character 't' appears is at index 4.
Common mistakes
✗ Using 1-based indexing instead of 0-based indexing, which would lead to the answer 5.\n✗ Confusing the character to find with its position.
Practice the full AQA GCSE Computer Science Paper 1 Python
31 questions · hints · full answers · grading
More questions from this exam
Q01.1Figure 1 shows an algorithm, represented using pseudo-code, which assigns a different value to fo...EasyQ01.2The variable `x` is assigned a value using the statement:
`x ← LEN(state)`
Using Figure 1, what ...EasyQ01.3What is the result of concatenating the contents of the variables `city` and `landmark` in Figure 1?EasyQ02.1Figure 2 shows an algorithm that uses integer division which has been represented using pseudo-co...EasyQ02.2In the algorithm in Figure 2, what will be output when the user input is 10?Medium