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What is an algorithm?
A finite set of unambiguous instructions to solve a problem. The term comes from the 9th century mathematician Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī.
What are punch cards?
Stiff pieces of paper with holes in predefined positions. They were used to dictate the design of cloth in Jacquard looms and later to code computer programs.
What is the significance of Boolean algebra in computing?
It laid the logical foundations of digital computing circuitry.
What are the key features of the Von Neumann Architecture?
Stored program concept, Binary internal coding, CPU-Memory-I/O organization, Fetch-decode-execute cycle, Central processing unit, a memory, mass storage, and input/output components.
What is the stored program concept, and why is it important?
It allows a computer to run different programs without needing to be re-wired, forming the basis for modern computers.
What were the contributions of Alan Turing?
Proposed the Turing Machine, a model for defining computability; Devised the Turing Test for artificial intelligence; Contributed to electronic computing machines in the 1940s.
What was ENIAC, and what were its key features?
The first general-purpose electronic digital computer, commissioned by the United States Army for computing ballistic firing tables, noted for its massive scale and redundant design, using vacuum tubes, Decimal internal coding, and manually programmed.
What was a major limitation of early computer programming?
It was slow, tedious, and repetitious.
What significant development occurred in computer size during the 1950s?
Computers became smaller due to four generations of vacuum tube computer circuit advancements.
Why was Grace Hopper significant in computer programming history?
She created the first compiler, improving programming speed and efficiency.
What was the impact of the transistor and integrated circuits on computing?
Transistors replaced bulky vacuum tubes; Integrated circuits allowed for the placement of many transistors on a small surface, lowering costs and reducing space.
What was the significance of the Intel 4004 microprocessor?
The first commercially available microprocessor, contained 2300 transistors and ran at 100 kHz, making personal computers possible.
What are the characteristics of desktop and portable computers from 1975 onwards?
They used microprocessors, had all-in-one designs, focused on performance/price tradeoffs, and were aimed at a mass audience.
What are some examples of Moore's Law in action regarding today's computer performance and pricing?
Over 3 billion operations per second cost less than $300; Memory is measured in gigabytes, secondary storage in terabytes, communication speeds in megabits or gigabits per second.
What are some examples of spreadsheet applications?
Microsoft Excel, LibreOffice Calc, Google Sheets, Smartsheet, Quip, Zoho Sheet, EtherCalc, and Airtable.
What is a spreadsheet?
A computer application that allows users to tabulate and collate data for calculations, graphical representations, and analysis.
Why are spreadsheets important?
They simplify calculations and data visualization and allow for easy modeling of situations.
What are some caveats to using spreadsheets?
Their processing speed is not the highest; Errors are often difficult to detect; Users should be cautious about trusting graphs without verifying data accuracy.
What are some key features of spreadsheet applications?
Organization of tabular data in a gridded layout with formatting options; Data manipulation, processing, transformation, generation, and analysis; Data visualization using charts and graphs.
What are the key elements of a Microsoft Excel document?
Cell, Row, Column, Worksheet, Workbook.
How can users work with data in Excel?
Enter data by typing, pasting, or using formulas; format text; add rows or columns; insert or delete cells.
How can data be processed and transformed in Excel?
Data in cells can be processed using built-in math, logical operations, or functions, preceded by an equal sign (=).
What are the differences between analog and digital information?
Analog data: Continuous representation; Digital data: Discrete representation using a finite number of digits.
What are some examples of inherently continuous and discrete information?
Continuous: Mass, temperature, sound; Discrete: Days in a week, city names, number of students.
How does a spirit (mercury) thermometer exemplify analog information?
The liquid level continuously rises and falls in direct proportion to the temperature.
What is the key difference between an analog and a digital display of time?
Analog displays can provide infinite precision regarding seconds; Digital displays show time in a discrete fashion.
How do different types of sphygmomanometers illustrate the concept of analog and digital information?
Mercury sphygmomanometers use the height of a mercury column (analog); Digital sphygmomanometers display a number on a screen (digital).
How do questionnaire scales represent the digitization of information?
They convert a continuous property into discrete categories for easier analysis, potentially losing some information.
Why do computers use digital representation, particularly binary?
Computers require fixed amounts and types of data; Binary's two states simplify representation.
What are the two steps involved in converting analog data to digital data?
Sampling (discretization) and Quantization (truncation).
Is information lost during analog-to-digital conversion, and if so, how is it managed?
Some loss is acceptable; mechanisms like the Nyquist-Shannon theorem help determine digitization parameters.
What are bits and bytes?
Bit: The basic unit of digital data (0 or 1); Byte: A group of 8 bits.
What are some benefits of digital representation in signal transmission and storage?
Easier processing, reliable transmission, signal regeneration, easier storage and compression.
What is positional notation in number representation?
A system where the value of a digit depends on its position within the number, using powers of a base.
How is the decimal system an example of positional notation?
Each digit's position represents a power of 10.
How do you determine the magnitude of a number in positional notation?
Multiply each digit by its corresponding column's magnitude and sum the products.
What are some common non-decimal number systems used in computing?
Binary (base 2), Octal (base 8), Hexadecimal (base 16).
What are the digits used in binary, octal, and hexadecimal systems?
Binary: 0, 1; Octal: 0-7; Hexadecimal: 0-9, A-F.
What is the relationship between the number of bits and the range of representable values?
Every added bit doubles the range of values.
What is a byte, and what is the largest decimal value representable in a single byte?
A byte is 8 bits; the largest value in a byte is 255.
How does binary arithmetic work, considering carry values?
0 + 0 = 0; 1 + 1 = 0 with a carry of 1.
What are octal and hexadecimal used as short forms for binary?
Octal: Based on 8 patterns in 3 bits; Hexadecimal: Based on 16 patterns in 4 bits.
How do you convert binary to octal and hexadecimal?
Divide the binary number into 3-bit or 4-bit chunks from right to left.
How do you convert binary, octal, and hexadecimal numbers to decimal?
Multiply each digit by its corresponding positional value and sum the products.
How do you convert decimal to binary, octal, and hexadecimal?
Use repeated division by the target base; read the remainders from bottom to top.
What are the maximum and minimum values representable with n bits in unsigned binary?
Maximum: 2n-1; Minimum: 0.
What is 2's complement notation?
A method for representing signed integers in binary.
What are the maximum and minimum values representable with n bits in 2's complement?
Maximum: +2n-1-1; Minimum: -2n-1.
How do you convert from 2's complement binary to decimal?
If MSB is 0, convert as usual; if 1, flip bits and add 1, then convert.
How do you convert from decimal to 2's complement binary?
If positive, convert to binary; if negative, convert absolute value to binary, flip bits, and add 1.
What is number overflow in binary representation?
An error that occurs when the result of an arithmetic operation exceeds the maximum representable value.
How is positional notation extended to represent fractions in binary?
Digits to the right of the binary point represent negative powers of 2.
What is the purpose of scientific notation?
To represent very large or very small numbers in a compact form.
What are some key features of a Word document?
Contains text, pictures, tables, and can be formatted.
What are some key components of the Word document window?
Document area, Tabs with ribbons, Quick access toolbar, etc.
How are styles used in Word documents?
Styles define the formatting of elements like headings.
How do you create hyperlinks in Word?
Select text, use the Link tool in the Insert ribbon.
How do you create headers and footers in Word?
Use the Header & Footer group in the Insert ribbon.
How do you insert page numbers in Word?
Use the Header & Footer group in the Insert ribbon.
How do you insert an Excel spreadsheet into a Word document?
Choose the Excel Spreadsheet option from the Insert Table dialogue.
How do you insert pictures into a Word document?
Copy and paste images or use the Insert tool.
How do you insert captions for tables, figures, and equations in Word?
Go to the References ribbon and choose Insert Caption.
How do you insert citations and create a bibliography in Word?
Use the Citations and Bibliography group in the References ribbon.
How do you create a Table of Contents (TOC) in Word?
Use heading styles, then choose the Table of Contents tool.
How do you create a list of captioned illustrations in Word?
Ensure illustrations have captions, then choose the Insert Table of Figures tool.
What is a character set in text representation?
A list of characters and their corresponding codes.
What is ASCII, and what are its limitations?
ASCII is a character set using 7 bits; limitations include limited character support.
What is Unicode, and how does it address the limitations of ASCII?
Unicode uses 16+ bits per character, enabling representation of over a million characters.
What are emojis, and how are they represented in Unicode?
Symbols used in digital communication, defined in Unicode blocks.
What is data compression, and what are the two main types?
Data compression reduces space needed to store data: lossless preserves information, lossy accepts some loss.
What is keyword encoding, and what are its limitations?
Replaces frequently used words with single characters; limitations include a limited compression ratio.
What is run-length encoding (RLE), and when is it effective?
Replaces repeated characters with a flag, character, and count; effective for repetitive data.
What is Huffman encoding, and what key property ensures unambiguous decoding?
Uses variable-length bit strings based on frequency; prefix-property ensures no code is a prefix of another.
How does the prefix-property in Huffman encoding work?
It ensures unique identification of each encoded character.
How does Huffman encoding achieve compression?
Shorter codes for frequent characters and longer for infrequent reduce overall bits needed.
What are some key aspects of Huffman's algorithm?
Takes symbols and frequency counts as input; generates a binary tree based on frequency.
What is the relative effectiveness of different lossless compression techniques?
Keyword encoding is the least effective; Huffman is the most effective.
