BL7A.'s blog

Practicing Techniques
By BL7A., history, 7 years ago, In English

An inquiry… Which is more effective? Digging deeper in each knowledge branch, as DP or graph theory, to be up to bar in it or working on diverse topics on the same time?
Other workable techniques are welcomed :D

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7 years ago, # |
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I feel that at this level you should focus more on all topics and bring them to an intermediate level. There is Psychology behind this. Problems from different topic vary a lot in contests. So if you mastery one, you won't see any benefit immediately. Our mind works better if it is rewarded for its hardwork (small perks at small intervals). If you master basic skills and improve your speed, you would definitely be able to solve C level problems in contest(and hence rewarded with rating ;)). After this you can move to mastery topics that are more frequent like DP, graph, Segment tree etc.

Best of luck on your Journey!!!

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    7 years ago, # ^ |
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    I really appreciate ur comment, it helped me a lot :D I'll try this :D

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    7 years ago, # ^ |
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    could you please clarify it a bit more? Say, I pick a topic like Kmp, Robin Karp or something else, then I solve 10/15 problems and then switch, or picking different problems and then learn and solve it with an appropriate algorithm?

    TIA

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      7 years ago, # ^ |
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      This style is good. You should always follow what suits you the best. However, You should tackle problems of lower level first before tackling higher ones. You should learn these definitely. But i don't think you should learn advanced ones before mastering lower ones. KMP,Z, other string algorithms are one specific type. These are mostly asked in div2 C or D levels. You should better master Greedy, Number theory topics before coming to these. However Always follow what suits you.

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7 years ago, # |
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As for me, I prefer to learn as many different techniques as possible, rather than go too deep in some specific topics, at least for now.

On one hand, there are still too many techniques that I do not understand, or even have never heard of before. Thus, dealing with different topics can extend my mind and give me a large amount of inspiration about how to come up with different ideas for different problems.

On the other hand, some topics are a little bit too difficult for me... I think as I accumulate more knowledge and establish stronger framework, then it might be time for me to form a better and deeper understanding of those techniques.

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