Most applications of the design techniques in the book are to classic problems of computer science. (The only innovation here is an inclusion of some material on numerical algorithms, which are covered within the same general framework.) But these design techniques can be considered general problem solving tools,whose applications are not limited to traditional computing and mathematicalproblems. Two factors make this point particularly important. First, more andmore computing applications go beyond the traditional domain, and there are reasons to believe that this trend will strengthen in the future. Second, developing students’ problem solving skills has come to be recognized as a major goal of college education. Among all the courses in a computer science curriculum, a course on the design and analysis of algorithms is uniquely suitable for this task because it can offer a student specific strategies for solving problems