Forgive me if I'm being dense, but haven't you answered your own question? > With repetition, there are certain patterns that emerge, a set of types of problem

Forgive me if I'm being dense, but haven't you answered your own question? > With repetition, there are certain patterns that emerge, a set of types of problems, hence its counterpart: a set of techniques to solve them. > Like divide and conquer and greedy algorithms, memoization, etc. You've got a problem and a technique to solve it, is called "divide and conquer" or a "greedy algo". Are you asking on how you would identify which technique to use to solve the question? If so, I personally haven't found a shortcut. You just have to practice.