Chapter 4 · Strategy shapes

Recognize strategy shapes

Use gaps, copies, returns, and nested repetition to recover the algorithm.

A person holding the best object taken from a visibly graded horizontal row, with a clear empty gap where it stood and every remaining object still untouched.

Picture path

  1. One best visible object is already in hand and a gap remains in its graded row. What choice rule fired?The important move is the irreversible grab now, not merely the order of the row.
  2. Small matching copies solve separate halves and return partial results to the full-size person. What strategy is this?Follow the work outward into independent pieces and then back inward to one combined answer.
  3. A character returns empty-handed from a blocked branch and removes the latest choice. What happened?Look for both pieces of evidence: the failed route and the deliberate undo before another try.
  4. Smaller gears repeat the same job inside larger gears until the smallest one stops. What does the nest mean?Each level performs the same operation; the smallest gear is the terminating case.