Which of the following concepts refers to breaking down a problem into more manageable parts?

The concept that refers to breaking down a problem into more manageable parts is decomposition. Decomposition is a fundamental problem-solving technique in computer science and programming that involves taking a complex problem and breaking it down into smaller, more manageable sub-problems or components. This approach makes it easier to tackle each part individually, simplifying the overall process and allowing for clearer focus on specific areas of the problem.

For instance, when you're developing a software application, you might decompose the project by creating separate modules or functions that handle distinct tasks such as user input, processing data, and outputting results. By tackling these smaller components one at a time, developers can make progress more incrementally and identify issues more clearly than if they were trying to solve the entire problem at once.

The other concepts mentioned serve different functions in problem-solving and programming. Pattern recognition involves identifying common themes or trends within data, data abstraction relates to the simplification of complex data structures to focus on essential properties, and flowcharting is a graphical way to represent the steps in a process or algorithm. Each of these concepts plays an important role in computer science but does not specifically refer to the process of breaking a problem down into smaller parts like decomposition does.