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DISCOVERING
COMPUTER
SCIENCE
Interdisciplinary Problems,
Principles, and Python
Programming
 CHAPMAN & HALL/CRC
TEXTBOOKS IN COMPUTING

Series Editors

John Impagliazzo Andrew McGettrick

Professor Emeritus, Hofstra University Department of Computer
and Information Sciences
University of Strathclyde

Aims and Scope

This series covers traditional areas of computing, as well as related technical areas, such as
software engineering, artificial intelligence, computer engineering, information systems, and
information technology. The series will accommodate textbooks for undergraduate and gradu-
ate students, generally adhering to worldwide curriculum standards from professional societ-
ies. The editors wish to encourage new and imaginative ideas and proposals, and are keen to
help and encourage new authors. The editors welcome proposals that: provide groundbreaking
and imaginative perspectives on aspects of computing; present topics in a new and exciting
context; open up opportunities for emerging areas, such as multi-media, security, and mobile
systems; capture new developments and applications in emerging fields of computing; and
address topics that provide support for computing, such as mathematics, statistics, life and
physical sciences, and business.

Published Titles

Paul Anderson, Web 2.0 and Beyond: Principles and Technologies

Henrik Bærbak Christensen, Flexible, Reliable Software: Using Patterns and Agile Development
John S. Conery, Explorations in Computing: An Introduction to Computer Science
John S. Conery, Explorations in Computing: An Introduction to Computer Science and Python
Programming
Jessen Havill, Discovering Computer Science: Interdisciplinary Problems, Principles, and
Python Programming
Ted Herman, A Functional Start to Computing with Python
Pascal Hitzler, Markus Krötzsch, and Sebastian Rudolph, Foundations of Semantic Web
Technologies
Mark J. Johnson, A Concise Introduction to Data Structures using Java
Mark J. Johnson, A Concise Introduction to Programming in Python
Lisa C. Kaczmarczyk, Computers and Society: Computing for Good
Mark C. Lewis, Introduction to the Art of Programming Using Scala
Bill Manaris and Andrew R. Brown, Making Music with Computers: Creative Programming in
Python
Uvais Qidwai and C.H. Chen, Digital Image Processing: An Algorithmic Approach with MATLAB®
David D. Riley and Kenny A. Hunt, Computational Thinking for the Modern Problem Solver
Henry M. Walker, The Tao of Computing, Second Edition
 Chapman & Hall/CRC
TEXTBOOKS IN COMPUTING

DISCOVERING
COMPUTER
SCIENCE
Interdisciplinary Problems,
Principles, and Python
Programming

Jessen Havill
Denison University
Granville, Ohio, USA
CRC Press
Taylor & Francis Group
6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300
Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742
© 2016 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business

No claim to original U.S. Government works

Version Date: 20150318

International Standard Book Number-13: 978-1-4822-5416-7 (eBook - PDF)

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Contents

Preface xv

Acknowledgments xxiii

About the author xxv

Chapter 1  What is computation? 1

1.1 PROBLEMS AND ABSTRACTION 2
1.2 ALGORITHMS AND PROGRAMS 4
1.3 EFFICIENT ALGORITHMS 11
Organizing a phone tree 11
A smoothing algorithm 13
A better smoothing algorithm 17
1.4 COMPUTERS ARE DUMB 20
Inside a computer 20
Machine language 21
Everything is bits 22
The universal machine 26
1.5 SUMMARY 29
1.6 FURTHER DISCOVERY 30

Chapter 2  Elementary computations 31

2.1 WELCOME TO THE CIRCUS 31
2.2 ARITHMETIC 32
Finite precision 34
Division 34
Order of operations 35
Complex numbers 37
2.3 WHAT’S IN A NAME? 38
2.4 USING FUNCTIONS 45

v
vi  Contents

Built-in functions 45
Strings 47
Modules 51
*2.5 BINARY ARITHMETIC 54
Finite precision 55
Negative integers 56
Designing an adder 57
Implementing an adder 58
2.6 SUMMARY 62
2.7 FURTHER DISCOVERY 62

Chapter 3  Visualizing abstraction 65

3.1 DATA ABSTRACTION 66
3.2 VISUALIZATION WITH TURTLES 70
Drawing with iteration 72
3.3 FUNCTIONAL ABSTRACTION 76
Function parameters 78
Let’s plant a garden 84
3.4 PROGRAMMING IN STYLE 89
Program structure 89
Documentation 91
Descriptive names and magic numbers 95
3.5 A RETURN TO FUNCTIONS 97
Return vs. print 100
3.6 SCOPE AND NAMESPACES 103
Local namespaces 104
The global namespace 107
3.7 SUMMARY 111
3.8 FURTHER DISCOVERY 112

Chapter 4  Growth and decay 113

4.1 DISCRETE MODELS 114
Managing a fishing pond 114
Measuring network value 121
Organizing a concert 124
4.2 VISUALIZING POPULATION CHANGES 136
4.3 CONDITIONAL ITERATION 140
 Contents  vii

*4.4 CONTINUOUS MODELS 145

Difference equations 145
Radiocarbon dating 148
Tradeoffs between accuracy and time 150
Propagation of errors 152
Simulating an epidemic 153
*4.5 NUMERICAL ANALYSIS 159
The harmonic series 159
Approximating π 162
Approximating square roots 164
4.6 SUMMING UP 167
4.7 FURTHER DISCOVERY 171
4.8 PROJECTS 171
Project 4.1 Parasitic relationships 171
Project 4.2 Financial calculators 173
*Project 4.3 Market penetration 177
*Project 4.4 Wolves and moose 180

Chapter 5  Forks in the road 185

5.1 RANDOM WALKS 185
A random walk in Monte Carlo 192
Histograms 195
*5.2 PSEUDORANDOM NUMBER GENERATORS 200
Implementation 201
Testing randomness 203
*5.3 SIMULATING PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTIONS 205
The central limit theorem 206
5.4 BACK TO BOOLEANS 209
Short circuit evaluation 212
Complex expressions 214
*Using truth tables 216
Many happy returns 218
5.5 A GUESSING GAME 224
5.6 SUMMARY 233
5.7 FURTHER DISCOVERY 234
5.8 PROJECTS 234
viii  Contents

Project 5.1 The magic of polling 234

Project 5.2 Escape! 237

Chapter 6  Text, documents, and DNA 241

6.1 COUNTING WORDS 242
6.2 TEXT DOCUMENTS 250
Reading from text files 250
Writing to text files 253
Reading from the web 254
6.3 ENCODING STRINGS 259
Indexing and slicing 259
Creating modified strings 261
Encoding characters 263
6.4 LINEAR-TIME ALGORITHMS 270
Asymptotic time complexity 274
6.5 ANALYZING TEXT 279
Counting and searching 279
A concordance 284
6.6 COMPARING TEXTS 289
*6.7 GENOMICS 297
A genomics primer 297
Basic DNA analysis 301
Transforming sequences 302
Comparing sequences 304
Reading sequence files 306
6.8 SUMMARY 312
6.9 FURTHER DISCOVERY 313
6.10 PROJECTS 313
Project 6.1 Polarized politics 313
*Project 6.2 Finding genes 316

Chapter 7  Designing programs 321

7.1 HOW TO SOLVE IT 322
Understand the problem 323
Design an algorithm 324
Implement your algorithm as a program 327
Analyze your program for clarity, correctness, and efficiency 330
 Contents  ix

*7.2 DESIGN BY CONTRACT 331

Preconditions and postconditions 331
Checking parameters 332
Assertions 334
*7.3 TESTING 340
Unit testing 340
Regression testing 342
Designing unit tests 343
Testing floating point values 347
7.4 SUMMARY 350
7.5 FURTHER DISCOVERY 350

Chapter 8  Data analysis 351

8.1 SUMMARIZING DATA 351
8.2 CREATING AND MODIFYING LISTS 360
List accumulators, redux 360
Lists are mutable 361
Tuples 365
List operators and methods 366
*List comprehensions 368
8.3 FREQUENCIES, MODES, AND HISTOGRAMS 373
Tallying values 373
Dictionaries 374
8.4 READING TABULAR DATA 384
*8.5 DESIGNING EFFICIENT ALGORITHMS 390
A first algorithm 391
A more elegant algorithm 399
A more efficient algorithm 400
*8.6 LINEAR REGRESSION 403
*8.7 DATA CLUSTERING 409
Defining similarity 410
A k-means clustering example 411
Implementing k-means clustering 414
Locating bicycle safety programs 416
8.8 SUMMARY 421
8.9 FURTHER DISCOVERY 421
x  Contents

8.10 PROJECTS 422

Project 8.1 Climate change 422
Project 8.2 Does education influence unemployment? 425
Project 8.3 Maximizing profit 427
Project 8.4 Admissions 428
*Project 8.5 Preparing for a 100-year flood 430
Project 8.6 Voting methods 435
Project 8.7 Heuristics for traveling salespeople 438

Chapter 9  Flatland 443

9.1 TWO-DIMENSIONAL DATA 443
9.2 THE GAME OF LIFE 449
Creating a grid 451
Initial configurations 452
Surveying the neighborhood 453
Performing one pass 454
Updating the grid 457
9.3 DIGITAL IMAGES 461
Colors 461
Image filters 463
Transforming images 467
9.4 SUMMARY 471
9.5 FURTHER DISCOVERY 471
9.6 PROJECTS 471
Project 9.1 Modeling segregation 471
Project 9.2 Modeling ferromagnetism 473
Project 9.3 Growing dendrites 474

Chapter 10  Self-similarity and recursion 477

10.1 FRACTALS 477
A fractal tree 479
A fractal snowflake 481
10.2 RECURSION AND ITERATION 488
Solving a problem recursively 491
Palindromes 492
Guessing passwords 495
10.3 THE MYTHICAL TOWER OF HANOI 500
 Contents  xi

*Is the end of the world nigh? 502

10.4 RECURSIVE LINEAR SEARCH 503
Efficiency of recursive linear search 505
10.5 DIVIDE AND CONQUER 508
Buy low, sell high 508
Navigating a maze 512
*10.6 LINDENMAYER SYSTEMS 518
Formal grammars 518
Implementing L-systems 522
10.7 SUMMARY 525
10.8 FURTHER DISCOVERY 526
10.9 PROJECTS 526
*Project 10.1 Lindenmayer’s beautiful plants 526
Project 10.2 Gerrymandering 531
Project 10.3 Percolation 536

Chapter 11  Organizing data 541

11.1 BINARY SEARCH 542
Efficiency of iterative binary search 546
A spelling checker 548
Recursive binary search 549
Efficiency of recursive binary search 550
11.2 SELECTION SORT 553
Implementing selection sort 553
Efficiency of selection sort 557
Querying data 558
11.3 INSERTION SORT 563
Implementing insertion sort 564
Efficiency of insertion sort 566
11.4 EFFICIENT SORTING 570
Internal vs. external sorting 574
Efficiency of merge sort 574
*11.5 TRACTABLE AND INTRACTABLE ALGORITHMS 577
Hard problems 579
11.6 SUMMARY 580
11.7 FURTHER DISCOVERY 581
xii  Contents

11.8 PROJECTS 581

Project 11.1 Creating a searchable database 581
Project 11.2 Binary search trees 581

Chapter 12  Networks 587

12.1 MODELING WITH GRAPHS 588
Making friends 590
12.2 SHORTEST PATHS 594
Finding the actual paths 598
12.3 IT’S A SMALL WORLD. . . 601
Clustering coefficients 603
Scale-free networks 605
12.4 RANDOM GRAPHS 608
12.5 SUMMARY 611
12.6 FURTHER DISCOVERY 611
12.7 PROJECTS 612
Project 12.1 Diffusion of ideas and influence 612
Project 12.2 Slowing an epidemic 614
Project 12.3 The Oracle of Bacon 616

Chapter 13  Abstract data types 621

13.1 DESIGNING CLASSES 622
Implementing a class 625
Documenting a class 632
13.2 OPERATORS AND SPECIAL METHODS 637
String representations 637
Arithmetic 638
Comparison 640
Indexing 642
13.3 MODULES 645
Namespaces, redux 646
13.4 A FLOCKING SIMULATION 648
The World ADT 649
The Boid ADT 655
13.5 A STACK ADT 665
13.6 A DICTIONARY ADT 671
Hash tables 672
 Contents  xiii

Implementing a hash table 673

Implementing indexing 676
ADTs vs. data structures 678
13.7 SUMMARY 682
13.8 FURTHER DISCOVERY 682
13.9 PROJECTS 683
Project 13.1 Tracking GPS coordinates 683
Project 13.2 Economic mobility 687
Project 13.3 Slime mold aggregation 690
Project 13.4 Boids in space 692

Appendix A  Installing Python 697

A.1 AN INTEGRATED DISTRIBUTION 697
A.2 MANUAL INSTALLATION 697

Appendix B  Python library reference 701

B.1 MATH MODULE 701
B.2 TURTLE METHODS 702
B.3 SCREEN METHODS 703
B.4 MATPLOTLIB.PYPLOT MODULE 704
B.5 RANDOM MODULE 704
B.6 STRING METHODS 705
B.7 LIST METHODS 706
B.8 IMAGE MODULE 706
B.9 SPECIAL METHODS 707

Bibliography 709

Index 713
This page intentionally left blank
Preface

n my view, an introductory computer science course should strive to accomplish

I three things. First, it should demonstrate to students how computing has become
a powerful mode of inquiry, and a vehicle of discovery, in a wide variety of disciplines.
This orientation is also inviting to students of the natural and social sciences, who
increasingly benefit from an introduction to computational thinking, beyond the
limited “black box” recipes often found in manuals. Second, the course should engage
students in computational problem solving, and lead them to discover the power of
abstraction, efficiency, and data organization in the design of their solutions. Third,
the course should teach students how to implement their solutions as computer
programs. In learning how to program, students more deeply learn the core principles,
and experience the thrill of seeing their solutions come to life.
Unlike most introductory computer science textbooks, which are organized
around programming language constructs, I deliberately lead with interdisciplinary
problems and techniques. This orientation is more interesting to a more diverse
audience, and more accurately reflects the role of programming in problem solv-
ing and discovery. A computational discovery does not, of course, originate in a
programming language feature in search of an application. Rather, it starts with
a compelling problem which is modeled and solved algorithmically, by leveraging
abstraction and prior experience with similar problems. Only then is the solution
implemented as a program.
Like most introductory computer science textbooks, I introduce programming
skills in an incremental fashion, and include many opportunities for students to prac-
tice them. The topics in this book are arranged to ease students into computational
thinking, and encourage them to incrementally build on prior knowledge. Each
chapter focuses on a general class of problems that is tackled by new algorithmic
techniques and programming language features. My hope is that students will leave
the course, not only with strong programming skills, but with a set of problem
solving strategies and simulation techniques that they can apply in their future
work, whether or not they take another computer science course.
I use Python to introduce computer programming for two reasons. First, Python’s
intuitive syntax allows students to focus on interesting problems and powerful
principles, without unnecessary distractions. Learning how to think algorithmically
is hard enough without also having to struggle with a non-intuitive syntax. Second,
the expressiveness of Python (in particular, low-overhead lists and dictionaries)
expands tremendously the range of accessible problems in the introductory course.
Teaching with Python over the last ten years has been a revelation; introductory
computer science has become fun again.

xv
xvi  Preface

Web resources
The text, exercises, and projects often refer to files on the book’s accompanying
web site, which can be found at

http://discoverCS.denison.edu .

This web site also includes pointers for further exploration, links to additional
documentation, and errata.

To students
Learning how to solve computational problems and implement them as computer
programs requires daily practice. Like an athlete, you will get out of shape and fall
behind quickly if you skip it. There are no shortcuts. Your instructor is there to
help, but he or she cannot do the work for you.
With this in mind, it is important that you type in and try the examples
throughout the text, and then go beyond them. Be curious! There are numbered
“Reflection” questions throughout the book that ask you to stop and think about, or
apply, something that you just read. Often, the question is answered in the book
immediately thereafter, so that you can check your understanding, but peeking
ahead will rob you of an important opportunity.
There are many opportunities to delve into topics more deeply. Boxes scattered
throughout the text briefly introduce related, but more technical, topics. For the
most part, these are not strictly required to understand what comes next, but I
encourage you to read them anyway. In the “Further discovery” section of each
chapter, you can find additional pointers to explore chapter topics in more depth.
At the end of most sections are several programming exercises that ask you
to further apply concepts from that section. Often, the exercises assume that you
have already worked through all of the examples in that section. All later chapters
conclude with a selection of more involved interdisciplinary projects that you may
be asked by your instructor to tackle.
The book assumes no prior knowledge of computer science. However, it does
assume a modest comfort with high school algebra and mathematical functions.
Occasionally, trigonometry is mentioned, as is the idea of convergence to a limit,
but these are not crucial to an understanding of the main topics in this book.

To instructors
This book may be appropriate for a traditional CS1 course for majors, a CS0 course
for non-majors (at a slower pace and omitting more material), or an introductory
computing course for students in the natural and/or social sciences.
As suggested above, I emphasize computer science principles and the role of
abstraction, both functional and data, throughout the book. I motivate functions
as implementations of functional abstractions, and point out that strings, lists,
and dictionaries are all abstract data types that allow us to solve more interesting
problems than would otherwise be possible. I introduce the idea of time complexity
 Preface  xvii

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3

Chapter 4
What is Elementary Visualizing
Growth and decay
computation? computations abstraction

Chapter 7 Chapter 6
Chapter 8 Chapter 5
Designing Text, documents,
Data analysis Forks in the road
programs and DNA

Chapter 10
Chapter 9 Chapter 11
Self-similarity and
Flatland Organizing data
recursion

Chapter 13
Chapter 12
Abstract data
Networks
types

Figure 1 An overview of chapter dependencies.

intuitively, without formal definitions, in the first chapter and return to it several
times as more sophisticated algorithms are developed. The book uses a spiral
approach for many topics, returning to them repeatedly in increasingly complex
contexts. Where appropriate, I also weave into the book topics that are traditionally
left for later computer science courses. A few of these are presented in boxes that
may be covered at your discretion. None of these topics is introduced rigorously, as
they would be in a data structures course. Rather, I introduce them informally and
intuitively to give students a sense of the problems and techniques used in computer
science. I hope that the tables below will help you navigate the book, and see where
particular topics are covered.
This book contains over 600 end-of-section exercises and over 300 in-text reflection
questions that may be assigned as homework or discussed in class. At the end of
most chapters is a selection of projects (about 30 in all) that students may work on
independently or in pairs over a longer time frame. I believe that projects like these
are crucial for students to develop both problem solving skills and an appreciation
for the many fascinating applications of computer science.
Because this book is intended for a student who may take additional courses in
computer science and learn other programming languages, I intentionally omit some
features of Python that are not commonly found elsewhere (e.g., simultaneous swap,
chained comparisons, enumerate in for loops). You may, of course, supplement
with these additional syntactical features.
There is more in this book than can be covered in a single semester, giving an
instructor the opportunity to tailor the content to his or her particular situation and
interests. Generally speaking, as illustrated in Figure 1, Chapters 1–6 and 8 form the
core of the book, and should be covered sequentially. The remaining chapters can be
covered, partially or entirely, at your discretion, although I would expect that most
instructors will cover at least parts of Chapters 7, 10, 11, and 13. Chapter 7 contains
xviii  Preface

additional material on program design, including design by contract, assertions and

unit testing that may be skipped without consequences for later chapters. Chapters
9–13 are, more or less, independent of each other. Sections marked with an asterisk
are optional, in the sense that they are not assumed for future sections in that
chapter. When projects depend on optional sections, they are also marked with an
asterisk, and the dependency is stated at the beginning of the project.

Chapter outlines
The following tables provide brief overviews of each chapter. Each table’s three
columns, reflecting the three parts of the book’s subtitle, provide three lenses through
which to view the chapter. The first column lists a selection of representative problems
that are used to motivate the material. The second column lists computer science
principles that are introduced in that chapter. Finally, the third column lists Python
programming topics that are either introduced or reinforced in that chapter to
implement the principles and/or solve the problems.

Chaper 1. What is computation?

Sample problems Principles Programming
• digital music • problems, input/output —
• search engines • abstraction
• GPS devices • algorithms and programs
• smoothing data • computer architecture
• phone trees • binary representations
• time complexity
• Turing machine

Chapter 2. Elementary computations

Sample problems Principles Programming
• wind chill • finite precision • int and float numeric types
• geometry • names as references • arithmetic and the math module
• compounding • using functional • variable names and assignment
interest abstractions • calling built-in functions
• Mad Libs • binary addition • using strings, + and * operators
• print and input

Chapter 3. Visualizing abstraction

Sample problems Principles Programming
• visualizing an • using abstract data types • using classes and objects
archaeological dig • creating functional • turtle module
• random walks abstractions • basic for loops
• ideal gas • basic functional • writing functions
• groundwater flow decomposition • namespaces
• demand functions • docstrings and comments
 Preface  xix

Chapter 4. Growth and decay

Sample problems Principles Programming
• network value • accumulators • for loops
• demand and profit • list accumulators • format strings
• loans and investing • difference equations • range
• bacterial growth • approximating continuous • matplotlib
• radiocarbon dating models • appending to lists
• diffusion models • accuracy vs. time • while loops
– SIR, SIS, Bass • error propagation
• competition models • numerical approximation
– Nicholson-Bailey • classes of growth
– Lotka-Volterra
– indirect

Chapter 5. Forks in the road

Sample problems Principles Programming
• random walks • Monte Carlo simulation • random module
• guessing games • pseudorandom number • if/elif/else
• polling and generators • comparison operators
sampling • simulating probabilities • Boolean operators
• particle escape • flag variables • matplotlib histograms
• using uniform and normal • while loops
distributions
• DeMorgan’s laws

Chapter 6. Text, documents, and DNA

Sample problems Principles Programming
• word count • ASCII, Unicode • str class and methods
• textual analysis • linear-time algorithms • iterating over strings
• parsing XML • asymptotic time complexity • indexing and slices
• checksums • linear search • iterating over indices
• concordances • dot plots • reading and writing text files
• detecting plagiarism • string accumulators • nested loops
• congressional votes
• genomics

Chapter 7. Designing programs

Sample problems Principles Programming
• word frequency • problem solving • assert statement
analysis • top-down design • conditional execution
• pre and postconditions of main
• assertions • writing modules
• unit testing
xx  Preface

Chapter 8. Data analysis

Sample problems Principles Programming
• 100-year floods • histograms • list class
• traveling salesman • hash tables • iterating over lists
• Mohs scale • tabular data files • indexing and slicing
• meteorite sites • efficient algorithms • list operators and methods
• zebra migration • linear regression • lists in memory; mutability
• tumor diagnosis • k-means clustering • list parameters
• education levels • heuristics • tuples
• supply and demand • list comprehensions
• voting methods • dictionaries

Chapter 9. Flatland
Sample problems Principles Programming
• earthquake data • 2-D data • 2-D data in list of lists
• Game of Life • cellular automata • nested loops
• image filters • digital images • 2-D data in a dictionary
• racial segregation • color models
• ferromagnetism
• dendrites

Chapter 10. Self-similarity and recursion

Sample problems Principles Programming
• fractals • self-similarity • writing recursive functions
• cracking passwords • recursion
• Tower of Hanoi • linear search
• maximizing profit • recurrence relations
• path through a maze • divide and conquer
• Lindenmayer system • depth-first search
• electoral districting • grammars
• percolation

Chapter 11. Organizing data

Sample problems Principles Programming
• spell check • binary search • nested loops
• querying data sets • recurrence relations • writing recursive functions
• basic sorting algorithms
• quadratic-time algorithms
• parallel lists
• merge sort
• intractability
• P=NP (intuition)
• Moore’s law
• binary search trees
 Preface  xxi

Chapter 12. Networks

Sample problems Principles Programming
• Facebook, Twitter, • graphs • dictionaries
web graphs • adjacency list
• diffusion of ideas • adjacency matrix
• epidemics • breadth-first search
• Oracle of Bacon • distance and shortest paths
• depth-first search
• small-world networks
• scale-free networks
• clustering coefficient
• uniform random graphs

Chapter 13. Abstract data types

Sample problems Principles Programming
• data sets • abstract data types • writing classes
• genomic sequences • data structures • special methods
• rational numbers • stacks • overriding operators
• flocking behavior • hash tables • modules
• slime mold • agent-based simulation
aggregation • swarm intelligence

Software assumptions
To follow along in this book and complete the exercises, you will need to have installed
Python 3.4 (or later) on your computer, and have access to IDLE or another
programming environment. The book also assumes that you have installed the
matplotlib and numpy modules. Please refer to Appendix A for more information.

Errata
While I (and my students) have ferreted out many errors, readers will inevitably
find more. You can find an up-to-date list of errata on the book web site. If
you find an error in the text or have another suggestion, please let me know at
havill@denison.edu.
This page intentionally left blank
Acknowledgments

was extraordinarily naı̈ve when I embarked on this project two years ago. “How
I hard can it be to put these ideas into print?” Well, much harder than I thought,
as it turns out. I owe debts of gratitude to many who saw me through to the end.
First and foremost, my family not only tolerated me during this period, but
offered extraordinary support and encouragement. Thank you Beth, for your patience
and strength, and all of the time you have made available to me to work on the
book. I am grateful to my in-laws, Roger and Nancy Vincent, who offered me their
place in Wyoming for a month-long retreat in the final stretch. And, to my four
children, Nick, Amelia, Caroline, and Lillian, I promise to make up for lost time.
My colleagues Matt Kretchmar, Ashwin Lall, and David White used drafts in
their classes, and provided invaluable feedback. They have been fantastic sounding
boards, and have graciously provided many ideas for exercises and projects. Students
in Denison University’s CS 111 and 112 classes caught many typos, especially Gabe
Schenker, Christopher Castillo, Christine Schmittgen, Alivia Tacheny, Emily Lamm,
and Ryan Liedke. Dana Myers read much of the book and offered an abundance of
detailed suggestions. Joan Krone also read early chapters and offered constructive
feedback. I am grateful to Todd Feil for his support, and his frank advice after
reading the almost-final manuscript.
I have benefitted tremendously from many conversations about computational
science, geology, and life with my friend and colleague David Goodwin. Project 8.1
is based on an assignment that he has used in his classes. I have also learned a great
deal from collaborations with Jeff Thompson. Jeff also advised me on Section 6.7
and Project 6.2. Frank Hassebrock enthusiastically introduced me to theories of
problem solving in cognitive psychology. And Dee Ghiloni, the renowned cat herder,
has supported me and my work in more ways than I can count.
I am indebted to the following reviewers, who read early chapters and offered
expert critiques: Terry Andres (University of Manitoba), John Impagliazzo (Qatar
University), Daniel Kaplan (Macalester College), Nathaniel Kell (Duke University),
Andrew McGettrick (University of Strathclyde); Hamid Mokhtarzadeh (University
of Minnesota), George Novacky (University of Pittsburgh), and J. F. Nystrom (Ferris
State University).
I could not have completed this book without the Robert C. Good Fellowship
awarded to me by Denison University.
Finally, thank you to Randi Cohen, for believing in this project, and for her
advice and patience throughout.

xxiii
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About the author

Jessen Havill is a Professor of Computer Science and the Benjamin Barney Chair
of Mathematics at Denison University, where he has been on the faculty since 1998.
Dr. Havill teaches courses across the computer science curriculum, as well as an
interdisciplinary elective in computational biology. He was awarded the college’s
highest teaching honor, the Charles A. Brickman Teaching Excellence Award, in
2013.
Dr. Havill is also an active researcher, with a primary interest in the development
and analysis of online algorithms. In addition, he has collaborated with colleagues
in biology and geosciences to develop computational tools to support research
and teaching in those fields. Dr. Havill earned his bachelor’s degree from Bucknell
University and his Ph.D. in computer science from The College of William and
Mary.

xxv
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 CHAPTER 1

What is computation?

We need to do away with the myth that computer science is about computers. Computer
science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes, biology is about
microscopes or chemistry is about beakers and test tubes. Science is not about tools, it is
about how we use them and what we find out when we do.

Michael R. Fellows and Ian Parberry

Computing Research News (1993)

omputers are the most powerful tools ever invented, but not because of their
C versatility and speed, per se. Computers are powerful because they empower
us to innovate and make unprecedented discoveries.
A computer is a machine that carries out a computation, a sequence of simple
steps that transforms some initial information, an input, into some desired result,
the output. Computer scientists harness the power of computers to solve complex
problems by designing solutions that can be expressed as computations. The output
of a computation might be a more efficient route for a spacecraft, a more effective
protocol to control an epidemic, or a secret message hidden in a digital photograph.
Computer science has always been interdisciplinary, as computational problems
arise in virtually every domain imaginable. Social scientists use computational models
to better understand social networks, epidemics, population dynamics, markets,
and auctions. Scholars working in the digital humanities use computational tools to
curate and analyze classic literature. Artists are increasingly incorporating digital
technologies into their compositions and performances. Computational scientists
work in areas related to climate prediction, genomics, particle physics, neuroscience,
and drug discovery.
In this book, we will explore the fundamental problem solving techniques of
computer science, and discover how they can be used to model and solve a variety of
interdisciplinary problems. In this first chapter, we will provide an orientation and
lay out the context in which to place the rest of the book. We will further develop
all of these ideas throughout, so don’t worry if they are not all crystal clear at first.

1
2  What is computation?

mp3 music player

music recording sound

search engine
search terms
search results

Buxton Inn
313 E Broadway GPS device
Granville, OH 43023

address directions

Figure 1.1 Some examples of computational problems.

1.1 PROBLEMS AND ABSTRACTION

Every useful computation solves a problem of some sort. A problem is fundamentally
defined by the relationship between its input and its output, as illustrated in Fig-
ure 1.1. For each problem, we have an input entering on the left and a corresponding
output exiting on the right. In between, a computation transforms the input into a
correct output. When you listen to a song, the music player performs a computation
to convert the digital music file (input) into a sound pattern (output). When you
submit a web search request (input), your computer, and many others across the
Internet, perform computations to get you results (outputs). And when you use GPS
navigation, a device computes directions (output) based on your current position,
your destination, and its stored maps (inputs).
Inputs and outputs are probably also familiar to you from high school algebra.
When you were given an expression like

y = 18x + 31

or
f (x) = 18x + 31,
you may have thought about the variable x as a representation of the input and
y, or f (x), as a representation of the output. In this example, when the input is
x = 2, the output is y = 67, or f (x) = 67. The arithmetic that turns x into y is a
very simple (and boring) example of a computation.

Reflection 1.1 What kinds of problems are you interested in? What are their inputs
and outputs? Are the inputs and outputs, as you have defined them, sufficient to
define the problem completely?
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
saw that he had a bundle of papers in his hand. “Do you know where
Dr. Spidderkins lives?”
“Why, yes,” replied Tom, wondering what was coming.
“That’s good. Then you’re acquainted in the Back Bay section?”
“Not very well, but I carried books to the doctor’s house several
times, when I worked for Mr. Townsend.”
“Oh, yes, I had forgotten about that. Well, I wish you would take
these papers to him, and tell him that I have attended to all his
requests. The land matters are all in good shape now, and the estate
books are all balanced. Can you remember that, or shall I write a
note?”
“Oh, I can remember it. Are you his lawyers?”
“Yes; we do considerable business for him.”
“A chum of mine—Charley Grove, whom Dr. Spidderkins used to
attend—says the doctor is quite rich,” went on Tom, thinking this a
good chance to get some more information.
“Yes; he is quite wealthy,” said Mr. Boise. “His estate is a large one.
Most of it came to him through his father, and his brother left him
some when he died. That, together with the doctor’s own property,
makes him very well-to-do. But he is so forgetful that we have to
make memoranda of everything for him.”
“I’ve had some experience with his short memory,” remarked Tom,
smiling at the recollection.
“Now don’t forget to impress the message on him,” cautioned Mr.
Boise, “and watch where he puts the papers you give him. Just as
likely as not he’ll call on me some day, and say he never received
them.”
“I will,” promised Tom, and, when it came time for him to lay aside
the telephone head-piece, he did so with a feeling of relief, for he
welcomed the long trolley ride to the Back Bay district, even though it
would bring him home rather late.
Mrs. Sandow opened the door when our hero arrived at the
Spidderkins’ mansion.
“Here are some papers for Dr. Spidderkins,” said Tom.
“I’ll give ’em to him, then you won’t have to come in and get mud all
over my clean floors,” she said, scowling at Tom.
“But I have a particular message to give the doctor.”
“Oh, well, then you can come in, I suppose,” but Mrs. Sandow did
not speak very graciously.
“Ah, glad to see you,” greeted the aged physician, who, for a wonder,
did not forget Tom this time. “When are you going to bring me my
books? I ordered some of Mr. Townsend to-day.”
“I’m not there any more.”
“Oh, that’s so. I forgot. Let’s see, you told me where you were
employed, but my wretched memory has made me forget it.”
“I don’t believe I told you,” replied Tom, “but I’m with Boise, Keen &
Cutler. I have brought you some papers from them.”
“Oh, yes. I told them to send up the documents, but I had forgotten
all about it. I have secured quite a rare book, an early edition of
Smollett, and that drove everything else out of my mind. But come
into my study.”
He led the way into a room, the walls of which were lined with row
after row of books. Tom gave him the papers and delivered the
message, then, in obedience with the instructions of Mr. Boise, the
lad watched to see where Dr. Spidderkins would put the documents.
“I’ll lay them on this shelf,” the doctor said, “right under this volume of
Fielding. Ah, that is a rare and valuable work. Then I’ll remember
where the papers are. I picked up that book on Fielding the same
day I got the first edition of Plutarch’s Lives—no, I’m wrong—it was
the day I secured, in a second-hand book store, the complete edition
of Dickens, with the original illustrations. Queer, how some things will
slip out of my mind.”
“Do you think you’ll remember where the papers are now, doctor?”
asked Tom.
“Oh, yes, indeed I will. I have occasion to look at the volume of
Balzac every day, and——”
“But I thought you said you was going to put them under a book on
baseball fielding.”
“Baseball fielding! Oh! Ha! Ha! I see. You thought I was going in for
sport! No, no, my dear young friend; Fielding is the name of an early
English novelist. But I did say Fielding, and not Balzac. There! My
memory is getting more and more wretched every day!”
“I guess I don’t know much about books,” admitted Tom.
“Well, you’ll learn. I’m much obliged to you, for bringing the papers.
There, I’ve put them under Mr. Fielding’s book—not the baseball
fielding, remember, Tom—and they’ll be safe until I want them, and I
shan’t forget where they are.”
“If you do I’ll try and help you remember,” said the boy with a laugh.
Tom bade the doctor good-night, and started out of the door. As he
opened the portal, and stepped into the faintly-lighted hall, he
thought he heard the rustle of a woman’s dress, and he was almost
sure he saw a figure hastily disappearing around the corner.
“That must have been Mrs. Sandow,” thought Tom, “and I believe
she was listening at the doctor’s door. There’s something queer
going on in this house, and I wish I knew what it was.”
 CHAPTER XIII
A MYSTERIOUS MESSAGE

There was a slight accident on the trolley line that night, when Tom
was going home. A truck got stalled on the track, and it was nearly
midnight when he got to the house, where he found his mother
anxiously waiting for him.
“You poor boy!” she exclaimed. “Where have you been? Did you
have your supper?”
“Oh, yes. When I found the trolleys were blocked I got out of the car,
which happened to be near a small restaurant, and I had a nice little
meal. I had to go to Dr. Spidderkins’ house for Mr. Boise.”
“I think you have a good deal of night work to do, Tom.”
“Well, I’m the youngest member of the firm,” replied her son jokingly.
“I’ve got to do the hard work until I rise in my profession.”
Tom fell asleep vainly wondering whether or not he had better
mention to Mr. Boise the suspicions he had concerning Barton
Sandow and his wife. But, in the morning, he decided he had better
not interfere with what did not concern him.
“I’ll wait until I have some better proof, before I say anything,” he
thought. “Maybe I’m making a mountain out of a mole-hill.”
For a week or more events went along smoothly at the law office
where Tom was employed. He was getting to be quite expert at the
switchboard, and seldom made a mistake.
Try as he did, however, he could not seem to please Mr. Cutler. That
lawyer was continually finding fault, even when Tom got for him the
required connections in almost record-breaking time.
“You’re worse than the other boy we had!” exclaimed the junior
member one day, when Tom had cut him off a second or two before
he was through. Then Mr. Cutler strode into the room occupied by
Mr. Boise. As he left the door partly open Tom could not help hearing
part of what was said.
“Why don’t you discharge that boy and hire a good one?” asked the
junior partner, wrathfully.
“What boy?” asked Mr. Boise, who had a habit of becoming so
deeply immersed in thinking of a case, that often questions had to be
repeated several times.
“That telephone boy—Tom Baldwin. He’s more bother than he’s
worth.”
“Why, I thought he was doing good work. I have no trouble getting
my connections. What seems to be the difficulty?”
“Well—er—I don’t know exactly—but he doesn’t seem to be up to
the mark. I think we ought to have another boy.”
“I am sorry I can’t agree with you, Mr. Cutler,” Tom heard Mr. Boise
say. “Mr. Keen engaged Tom, and he spoke well of his qualifications.
The boy has a mother and an aged aunt partly dependent on him,
and he was out of work for some time before coming to us. He
learned how to work a switchboard, hoping to get a place, and now
he has one I don’t feel we should discharge him—especially when
there is no good cause for it.”
“Well, I only mentioned it,” said Mr. Cutler, rather weakly. “Perhaps
he’ll do all right, but he makes mistakes.”
“So we all do,” remarked Mr. Boise. “I think Tom will be all right.”
Then the door was closed, and Tom could hear no more. But what
he had heard told him two things, one of which he knew before. He
was made aware that Mr. Boise was very friendly to him, and he
realized that Mr. Cutler had some grudge against him, though what it
could be our hero could not imagine.
“It can’t be about the telephone calls,” reasoned the lad, “for I haven’t
made but one error on his wire in nearly a week, and that was a
small one—cutting him off. He was through, anyhow, for the party on
the other end of the wire had said ‘good-by.’ But I’m glad Mr. Boise
stuck up for me.”
That afternoon, toward the close of the day’s business, as Tom was
sitting in front of the switchboard, idly wondering where the next call
would come from, one of the black drops fell. He plugged in a wire,
and asked:
“Whom did you wish to speak to?”
Back came the answer, in a voice that startled Tom, for he knew he
had heard it somewhere before:
“Is Mr. Cutler in?”
“I’ll connect you with him. Hold the wire,” directed Tom, and he made
doubly sure that he put the right plug in the right hole, so that the
person could speak to the junior partner.
As soon as this connection was made there came another call, for
Mr. Boise. The head of the firm was soon conversing with a client,
and then a third drop fell.
“Well, the day is going to wind up with a rush,” thought Tom. “Whom
did you wish?” he asked politely.
“I want to talk to Mr. Cutler,” spoke a woman’s voice.
“He is busy now. If you will hold the wire, I’ll let you speak to him as
soon as he has finished.”
“Very well. Don’t forget it. It’s very important.”
“I’ll not. Just hold the wire.”
Then, as was his custom, when a party was waiting for one of the
law-firm members who was already engaged on the wire, Tom
depressed the cam which enabled him to hear whether Mr. Cutler
and the speaker whose voice had so startled the boy, were finished.
Tom, as he “cut in” heard Mr. Cutler saying:
“Yes, yes, I’ll attend to it for you. The plan ought to work, but you’ve
got to be careful.”
Then, before he shut off the connection through his own instrument,
he heard the man on the other end of the wire say:
“I’ve got the papers all right. The forgetful old dotard left them in his
study, and my wife heard him and the boy talking about them. I’ve
got ’em all right, and he’ll never remember anything about them. I
guess they ought to be worth something, eh?”
“Yes, indeed,” Mr. Cutler replied. “The estate is a big one, and there’s
no reason why you and I shouldn’t have a share. I guess we can
work it without any one knowing anything about it. I’ll call you up in a
few days Mr.——”
“No names!” cautioned the other quickly.
“All right,” answered Mr. Cutler with a laugh. “I understand. Good-by.”
Tom knew that the conversation was finished, and that he could give
the waiting lady the junior partner on the wire. But he hesitated a
moment before pulling out the plugs, and readjusting them.
“I’ve heard that man’s voice before,” he mused. “I know it well. Who
can it be?”
Then there came over the wire the voice of the man in question. It
seemed that he had forgotten something, though Mr. Cutler was
busy talking to the lady.
“Hello! Hello!” he called. “I say! I forgot something. Wait a moment,
Mr. Cutler!”
“Mr. Cutler is busy on another wire,” replied Tom. “If you wait I can
get him back for you?”
“Who is this speaking?” asked the man’s voice, and there seemed to
be a note of fear in it.
“This is the private exchange operator.”
“I know that, but who are you? What’s your name?”
“Tom Baldwin. Do you wish me to get Mr. Cutler on the wire for you?”
 “No!” came the sudden answer.
Page 110.
“No!” came the sudden answer, and the man hung up his receiver
with a bang that made a loud click in Tom’s ear.
Then, like a flash there came to our hero the recognition of the voice.
“That was Barton Sandow speaking!” he exclaimed softly. “I’m pretty
sure it was, and I believe he was talking about that Spidderkins
estate and those papers I took to the doctor!”
 CHAPTER XIV
SANDOW IS ALARMED

Tom hardly knew what to do. As he finished his work that afternoon,
and started toward home, he had half a mind to go and tell Dr.
Spidderkins what he had heard. Then he reflected that he could say
nothing definite, and that, after all, the mysterious message might be
a perfectly proper one. It might refer to some other person than the
eccentric doctor.
“But one thing I’m pretty certain of,” thought Tom, “and that is the
voice I heard was that of Barton Sandow. Maybe I had better speak
to Mr. Boise about it. No, if I do that I’ll have to say Sandow was
talking to Mr. Cutler, and Mr. Boise will consult with him. Mr. Cutler
will accuse me of listening, when I really couldn’t help it, and I’ll lose
my place.
“No, I can’t do that. I wish I knew some one I might consult with.
Perhaps Mr. Keen would be a good man. He seems kind, and I could
ask him to say nothing about it to Mr. Cutler. I’ll think that over.”
Which Tom did, after he got to bed that night, but in the morning he
was as unsettled as ever.
“I’ll not do anything until I’m more certain,” he decided. “But if Mr.
Sandow calls up Mr. Cutler on the wire again, I’ll listen to all he says.
I think I have a right to, for I believe he is up to something wrong.”
During the days that followed Tom became more and more expert at
the switchboard, so that even Mr. Cutler, anxious as he was to do so,
could find no fault with the lad.
“Tom, I have some good news for you,” Mr. Keen said to him one
Saturday afternoon, when he was paying the telephone boy his
weekly wages. “In the first place Mr. Boise wants me to tell you that
he is very well satisfied with your work.”
“I am glad of that.”
“And, better than being merely glad about it, he has shown his
appreciation in a substantial way. Hereafter your wages will be
eleven dollars a week.”
“Thank you, very much,” replied Tom, “and tell Mr. Boise that I
appreciate it.”
“I think he knows that. He is a man who likes to help boys get along
in the world, and I am sure he will prove your friend.”
Tom was delighted at the additional money every week, and he knew
his mother and aunt would share in his joy. He was now getting more
than Charley Grove, who had been at the switchboard over a year,
for Charley had not received the additional dollar he had “struck the
boss for,” as he expressed it.
Tom thought this a good opportunity, when Mr. Keen was in such a
particularly kindly mood, to broach the subject of Barton Sandow,
and the mysterious message, but, just as he was about to mention it,
a telephone call came in, and he had to adjust the switchboard. The
call was for Mr. Keen, who had remained after the other members of
the law firm had departed, and when he had finished talking he
hurried away, before Tom had a chance to more than say “good-
afternoon.”
“I’ll speak to him Monday,” thought Tom, but, when Monday came,
Mr. Keen had to go out of town, and was away for several days.
There came several dull days in the law office, when, for hours at a
time Tom would sit at the switchboard and not a call would come in.
This was rather tiresome, but he had to remain on duty, as there was
no telling when he would have to make the connections.
“I wish I could read,” he thought. “Guess I’ll ask one of the clerks if
there’s any objection.”
Accordingly, he broached the matter to the young fellow who relieved
him at the board during the noon hour.
“Sure you can read, if you want to,” said the youth. “Why don’t you
start in to read law? This is a good chance. I used to have your job,
and one day I was reading a book of adventures. Mr. Boise saw me,
and wanted to know what it was. I told him, and I thought he’d object,
but he suggested that I start to study law in my spare moments. I did,
beginning on a simple book, and finally he made me a clerk. That
gave me more time, and I’ll be ready for the bar examinations in
another year.”
“I never thought of that,” said Tom. “I believe I would like to know
something of law.”
“I’ll lend you a book to start on,” said the clerk kindly, and he handed
Tom a volume that did not look very attractive. But Tom was not
easily discouraged, and he began it. He found it simpler than he had
expected, and he became quite interested in it.
“What have you there?” asked Mr. Boise of him, one afternoon, as
the senior partner came in from a late lunch. “Is it the life of ‘Fearless
Frank, the Boy Scout,’ or ‘Death-Dealing Dick’? Oh, there’s no
objection to you reading,” he added hastily, as Tom started up in
some confusion.
As he did so the book fell down, open, so that the title could be read.
“Ah, the law primer,” remarked Mr. Boise. “I am glad to see this, Tom.
Not that there is anything wrong in reading a good book of
adventure, for I like that sort of a story myself, once in a while, but
they are not good as a steady diet. When you finish that book I will
loan you another.”
He passed on, nodding his head in approval.
Meanwhile, as the days passed, Tom was wondering why Barton
Sandow did not call up again.
“Maybe I frightened him,” thought the telephone boy.
That afternoon Mr. Keen called Tom into his office.
“I want you to leave a little earlier to-day,” he said. “A client of ours is
coming to the Parker House. Do you know where that hotel is?”
Tom well knew the location of the famous hotel, the rolls of which
have become a byword in many parts of the country.
“I want you to take these papers to Mr. Jonathan Norris, who is
stopping there,” went on Mr. Keen. “Ask the clerk to show you to his
room, deliver the documents, and have him give you a receipt. He is
expecting them.”
“What about the telephone?” asked Tom.
“I will have one of the clerks look after it for you, while you are gone.
You need not come back, here to-night.”
Tom liked that, as it would give him about an hour off.
He found Mr. Norris without trouble, delivered the papers, and was
walking briskly toward the door of the main entrance, when he nearly
collided with Barton Sandow, who was hurriedly entering the hotel.
“Excuse me,” said Tom.
“What! You here!” exclaimed Sandow. “I thought—I——”
He seemed quite startled, and Tom wondered what the matter could
be.
“Did I hurt you?” he asked.
“Hurt me? No—but you——”
Again Sandow seemed confused.
“Was it you at the telephone switchboard the other day?” he asked,
and Tom wondered at the friendly tone he used. It was quite different
from the voice in which Mr. Barton Sandow had called our hero a
“gutter-pup.”
“Yes,” replied the boy. “You mean the day you called up Mr. Cutler?”
“That’s the day. Did you hear what I said?”
“Part of it,” answered Tom.
“You did?” and Sandow seemed quite excited.
“I could not help it. I had to come in on the wire to see if Mr. Cutler
was through, as a lady was anxious to talk to him.”
“Oh, well, it doesn’t matter,” spoke Sandow, with an air of studied
indifference. “The message was of no importance. It was about
some property I own, and which is in litigation. Mr. Cutler is my
lawyer. It’s only a small matter.”
Tom wondered if it was, why Mr. Sandow should seem so frightened
over something, for frightened the man certainly was.
“I don’t suppose you reported what you heard to any one; did you?”
asked Sandow eagerly.
“No, sir,” replied Tom quickly. “It is against orders to speak of the
firm’s business outside.”
“That’s right, though in this case it doesn’t make any difference. It
was of small importance. The affair is closed up now. It was of no
importance whatever.” And Sandow passed on.
“Well, if it wasn’t,” thought Tom, who had his own ideas on the
subject, “you’re taking a great deal of trouble to impress that fact on
me.”
Wondering more than ever what sort of a game Sandow was
playing, Tom left the lobby of the hotel, and started toward home.
 CHAPTER XV
MR. CUTLER’S VISITOR

“Well, Tom,” asked Mr. Keen, the next morning, “did you deliver the
papers?”
“Yes, sir, and Mr. Norris said he would call on you this afternoon.”
“Very good; I’ll be here. Now get me the surrogate’s office, in the
court house.”
Tom had on a small card, the numbers of the places most frequently
called up by the members of the firm, in order to save the time of
looking in the telephone book, and he soon had the connection for
Mr. Keen.
As our hero was going home that afternoon Mr. Keen gave him a
message to deliver to a client who lived in the suburbs, across the
Charles River.
“It is quite important,” said the lawyer, “or I would not ask you to
spend your own time delivering it.”
“I don’t mind,” replied Tom.
“Well, I am sure I appreciate that. Since you are so good-natured
about it I think I will ask you to do a little more. This concerns a suit
which is to be tried to-morrow. I must have an answer from this
gentleman, and he has no telephone. Will you go out there, and
bring back the answer?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Bring it here to the office,” went on Mr. Keen. “I am going to work
here quite late, to-night, and, if I should not be in when you get here,
leave the answer on my desk, for I may be out to supper.”
“I think I can be back here by eight, or, at the most, nine o’clock,”
spoke Tom.
“That will do very nicely. I expect to be up until nearly midnight,
getting the papers in shape for the trial to-morrow. You had better
start now, as it is quite a ride out there.”
With a bundle of papers in his pocket Tom started off. He had sent
word to his mother, by telephoning to a drug store near his house,
that he would not be home until late.
Tom rather enjoyed the trolley ride, for it was in a section he had
seldom visited.
“I hope I find a restaurant out here,” he remarked to himself as the
trolley rumbled along. “I’ll be mighty hungry by the time I get back.”
When he reached the house of the gentleman he had been sent to
see, he delivered the papers, and asked:
“How long do you think it will be before you have the answer ready?”
“Why? Do you have to go somewhere else in this neighborhood?”
asked the client.
“I would like to go to a restaurant,” replied Tom. “Is there one near
here?”
“I’m afraid not, but I’d be glad to have you come in and take tea with
me.”
“Oh, no; I wouldn’t like to trouble you.”
“It will be no trouble at all. I am all alone this evening, as my wife and
daughters have gone to Symphony Hall to a concert. Come in, for it
will take me some time to look over these papers, and prepare my
answer.”
Tom was too hungry to be bashful, and he was soon seated at a
table bountifully spread, while a neatly-dressed servant brought him
a hot cup of tea, which was grateful after the long cold ride.
The gentleman was so busily engaged with the legal documents that
he did not get a chance to eat with Tom, who was all alone at the
table, which the boy did not regret, as his appetite was particularly
good, and he did not want to feel embarrassed by dining with a
stranger.
“There, I think that covers it,” said the gentleman at length, as he
handed Tom a bundle of papers. “Tell Mr. Keen I will see him at
court, in the morning. Did you manage to make out a meal?”
“Yes, sir, and I thank you very much.”
It was nearly nine o’clock when Tom reached the office of the law
firm in Washington Street. He went up to the big front doors and he
did not have to knock, as Mr. Keen had told him to do, as the
watchman was on the lookout for him.
“Is it cold out,” asked the old man, who had charge of the building
nights.
“It’s getting colder,” remarked Tom. “Feels like snow, too.”
“I don’t like that,” complained the watchman. “It’s bad for my
rheumatism. I don’t suppose that bothers you.”
“Not yet,” said Tom with a laugh, as he prepared to climb the stairs to
Mr. Keen’s office, the elevator having stopped running.
He found a light burning in the outer room, where the telephone
switchboard was, but Mr. Keen’s apartment was in darkness.
“He must be out,” thought Tom. “Well, I’ll leave the papers on his
desk. But there’s a light in Mr. Cutler’s office. Maybe he’s in there.”
He started toward the door, but, before he could reach it the portal
opened, and Mr. Cutler came out.
“What are you doing here?” he asked Tom sharply. “You have no
right in here after office hours.”
“I have been on an errand for Mr. Keen,” replied Tom. “He told me to
leave the answer on his desk.”
As he spoke he heard a noise of papers rattling in Mr. Cutler’s room,
and he knew the lawyer must have a visitor. Mr. Cutler’s manner was
strange. He seemed much annoyed at beholding Tom.
“Well,” he said, “leave the papers and then go home. We don’t want
the office boys around here after hours.”
He turned to go back into his office, and, as he did so, the door
swung more fully open. Tom caught a glimpse of a man, and, an
instant later he saw that Mr. Cutler’s visitor was none other than
Barton Sandow. Dr. Spidderkins’ brother-in-law uttered an
exclamation, as he caught sight of Tom, and then the lawyer hastily
closed the door, from behind which came the murmur of voices in
eager, earnest conversation.
“He’ll never suspect anything,” he heard Mr. Cutler say.
“Hush!” cautioned Mr. Sandow. “He’s altogether too smart!”
“I hope I can prove too smart for you,” thought Tom, as he laid the
papers on Mr. Keen’s desk. “There’s some funny business going on
in this office and I think it has to do with the doctor. I’ll keep my eyes
open.”
 CHAPTER XVI
AN ODD CLIENT

That night, when Tom got to bed, he thought so intently about what
had happened, that he could hardly sleep. He tried to outline some
plan, by which he might get at the bottom of the mystery that
seemed to be developing, but he could concoct none that appeared
satisfactory.
“I’m sure of one or two things,” he said to himself. “One is that
Sandow doesn’t like me, and, I believe he’s a little bit afraid of what
he thinks I know. Another is that Mr. Cutler doesn’t like me, but he
isn’t alarmed that I know anything. He’d have me discharged if he
could. And another thing is that Sandow and Cutler are in with each
other. And the last thing is that it has to do with the estate of Dr.
Spidderkins.
“But I don’t see what I can do. I don’t know anything about law, and if
I spoke to Mr. Boise, Cutler might make it appear that everything was
all right, and I would only be laughed at. No, I’ll lay low for a while
yet.”
“Well, Tom,” said Mr. Keen the next morning, “I see you got the
papers all right. I found them on my desk, when I came in. But you
should not have opened the envelope they were in. Some of them
might have been lost.”
“I didn’t open the envelope.”
“You didn’t? Why, I found it open on my desk.”
“It was closed when I left it there.”
“That’s odd,” remarked Mr. Keen in a low voice, but he did not in the
least doubt Tom’s word. “Was there any one in the office but
yourself?” he asked. “Maybe the envelope fell to the floor off my
desk, and, being quite full, burst open. The janitor may have picked it
up.”
“Mr. Cutler was in his room, when I came back last night,” replied
Tom. “He had some one with him. But I don’t believe the envelope
could have fallen off your desk. I placed it right in the middle.”
“Strange how it could have come open then,” went on Mr. Keen. “It
looks as if the envelope was opened, and then sealed up again, but
not securely. Well, it doesn’t matter much.”
But Tom could see that the lawyer was annoyed by the incident,
though the telephone boy was glad there was no hint of suspicion
against himself.
At the same time, there came into Tom’s mind, a vague suspicion
against Mr. Cutler. Yet, what object would that lawyer have in
opening the envelope containing papers in a case, which,
presumably, all the partners knew about?
“Or could it have been Sandow?” thought Tom. “He might have
sneaked in and opened the envelope, when Cutler left him alone for
a minute. That Sandow is a sneak, I believe. I have proof enough of
that in the way he tried to make me believe that mysterious message
I heard him give Cutler didn’t amount to anything.”
But Tom had little more time for thought that morning, as the
switchboard kept him almost constantly engaged. The firm had
several important cases to attend to, and inquiries and messages
concerning them were constantly coming in.
“Whew! My ear aches!” exclaimed Tom to himself, after an hour
during which he had been engaged in putting plugs in, taking them
out, shifting cams and pressing buttons. “This sort of life is lively
enough, at times, to suit almost any one. But I guess I’ll have a
chance now to look at my law book.”
For Tom still stuck to the resolution he had made, to “read law”
during his spare moments. He was looking intently at the book, yet
alert for any telephone call that might come in, when he became
aware that a stranger had entered the office. He looked up to see a
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