The goal of this assignment is to write five short Java programs to gain practice with loops, conditionals, and arrays.

1. Bits. Write a program Bits.java that takes a command-line argument N and uses a while loop to compute the number of times you need to divide N by 2 until it is strictly less than 1. Print out an error message if the integer N is negative.

   % java Bits 0 % java Bits 8 0 4 % java Bits 1 % java Bits 16 1 5 % java Bits 2 % java Bits 1000 2 10 % java Bits 4 % java Bits -23 3 Illegal input

   Remark: This computes the number of bits in the binary representation of N, which also equals 1 + floor(log₂ N) when N is positive. This quantity arises in information theory and the analysis of algorithms.

   
   

2. Checkerboard. Write a program Checkerboard.java that takes a command-line argument N, and prints out an N-by-N checkerboard pattern with alternating spaces and asterisks, like the following patterns. Use two nested for loops.

   % java Checkerboard 4 % java Checkerboard 5 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

   
   

3. A drunkard's walk. A drunkard begins walking aimlessly, starting at a lamp post. At each time step, the drunkard forgets where he or she is, and takes one step at random, either north, east, south, or west, with probability 25%. How far will the drunkard be from the lamp post after N steps?

   • Write a program RandomWalker.java that takes a command-line argument N and simulates the motion of a random walker for N steps. After each step, print the location of the random walker, treating the lamp post as the origin (0, 0). Also, print the square of the distance from the origin.

     % java RandomWalker 10             % java RandomWalker 20
     (0, 0)                            (0, 0)
     (0, -1)                           (0, 1)
     (0, 0)                            (-1, 1)
     (0, 1)                            (-1, 2)
     (0, 2)                            (0, 2)
     (-1, 2)                           (1, 2)
     (-2, 2)                           (1, 3)
     (-2, 1)                           (0, 3)
     (-1, 1)                           (-1, 3)
     (-2, 1)                           (-2, 3)
     (-3, 1)                           (-3, 3)
     squared distance = 10             (-3, 2)
                                       (-4, 2)
                                       (-4, 1)
                                       (-3, 1)
                                       (-3, 0)
                                       (-4, 0)
                                       (-4, -1)
                                       (-3, -1)
                                       (-3, -2)
                                       (-3, -3)
                                       squared distance = 18
     

   • Write a program RandomWalkers.java that takes two command-line argument N and T. In each of T independent experiments, simulate a random walk of N steps and compute the squared distance. Output the mean squared distance (the average of the T squared distances).

     % java RandomWalkers 100 100000         % java RandomWalkers 400 100000
     mean squared distance = 100.15086       mean squared distance = 401.22024
     
     % java RandomWalkers 100 100000         % java RandomWalkers 800 100000
     mean squared distance = 99.95274        mean squared distance = 797.5106
     
     % java RandomWalkers 200 100000         % java RandomWalkers 1600 100000
     mean squared distance = 199.57664       mean squared distance = 1600.13064
     

   • As N increases, we expect the random walker to end up further and further away from the origin. But how much further? Use RandomWalkers to formualte a hypothesis as to how the mean squared distance grows as a function of N. Use T = 100,000 trials to get a sufficiently accurate estimate.

   Remark: this process is a discrete version of a natural phenomenon known as Brownian motion. It serves as a scientific model for an astonishing range of physical processes from the dispersion of ink flowing in water, to the formation of polymer chains in chemistry, to cascades of neurons firing in the brain.

   
   

4. Dice and the Gaussian distribution. Write a program TenDice.java that takes a command-line argument N, and flips 10 fair dice, N times. Use an array to tabulate the number of times each possible total (between 10 and 60) occurs. Then print out a text histogram of the results, as illustrated below.

   % java TenDice 1000 10: 11: 12: 13: 14: 15: 16: 17: 18: * 19: **** 20: 21: *** 22: ****** 23: ******** 24: **************** 25: ************* 26: ********** 27: ********************************* 28: **************************************** 29: ********************************* 30: *************************************************** 31: ***************************************************************** 32: ******************************************************** 33: ************************************************************************************** 34: *********************************************************** 35: ********************************************************************* 36: *********************************************************************************** 37: ************************************************************** 38: ***************************************************************** 39: *************************************** 40: ***************************************************** 41: ************************************ 42: **************************** 43: ************************ 44: ************************ 45: ********* 46: *********** 47: ******* 48: *** 49: ** 50: 51: 52: * 53: 54: 55: 56: 57: 58: 59: 60:

   Remark: a classic result from probability theory asserts that the shape of the resulting histogram is well-approximated by the ubiquitous bell curve (Gaussian distribution).

Submission. Submit the files Bits.java, Checkerboard.java, RandomWalker.java, RandomWalkers.java, TenDice.java and a readme.txt file documenting your work.