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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Eliminating noise in Shannon's model meant looking at language in terms of what factor?
(a) Possibility.
(b) Frequency.
(c) Randomness.
(d) Probability.

2. What was the goal of James Murray when he wrote the first Oxford English Dictionary in 1879?
(a) To limit the work to only proper English.
(b) To catalog the entire English language.
(c) To provide the pronunciation of all words.
(d) To alphabetize all words.

3. What did Alan Turing reduce human thought to?
(a) 0s and 1s.
(b) Numbers.
(c) Symbols.
(d) Its basic elements.

4. The invention of what technology would make Shannon's theory of a computing machine practical?
(a) Circuit.
(b) Network.
(c) Grid.
(d) Transistor.

5. What did a young mathematician named Kurt Gödel conclude about conflicting statements?
(a) There were some statements that could neither be proved or disproved.
(b) That the Principia Mathematica was flawed and began his own work.
(c) There frequency represented only a .001 percent possibility of occurring.
(d) That Russell had made an error in basic structure of the Principia Mathematica.

6. What were the benefits of the early logarithm tables?
(a) Eliminated calculations.
(b) Provided solutions.
(c) Cut down on errors and allowed for quicker calculations.
(d) Made work easier.

7. In what field was Charles Babbage an early pioneer?
(a) Advanced mathematics.
(b) Physics.
(c) Computer science.
(d) Astronomy.

8. Each square of Turing's imaginary machine would have what coding?
(a) Circuitry.
(b) A 0 or a 1.
(c) Programming.
(d) Relay switches.

9. In his graduate paper, to what did Claude Shannon apply the binary logic of George Boole?
(a) To an advanced telegraph.
(b) To a system of relays.
(c) To a logarithm table.
(d) To circuit grid.

10. What caused the errors that were contained in the tables of logarithms that had to be calculated themselves?
(a) Calculations and printing errors.
(b) Printing errors.
(c) Calculations.
(d) Under-educated workers.

11. What development was the last stage of writing?
(a) The numeric system.
(b) Symbolism.
(c) The alphabet.
(d) Phoenetics.

12. While working on plans for this "analytical engine," Babbage struck an acquaintance with what individual?
(a) John Simpson.
(b) Ada Lovelace.
(c) Lord Byron.
(d) Isaac Newton.

13. What new word did Claude Shannon, a mathematical researcher at Bell Labs, introduce in the in-house journal called "A Mathematical Theory of Communication"?
(a) The bit.
(b) The transistor.
(c) The relay.
(d) The circuit.

14. Shannon showed that it was theoretically possible to overcome any amount of signal noise by what action?
(a) By creating the first anti-virus element.
(b) By changing locations.
(c) By sending corrective bits of information.
(d) By limiting data.

15. What did MIT scholar Vannevar Bush create?
(a) The Differential Analyzer.
(b) The CAT scan.
(c) The telegram.
(d) The difference engine.

Short Answer Questions

1. How was the telephone superior to the telegraph?

2. In the prologue to "The Information", what year does Gleick identify as a crucial year in the history of information and computing?

3. What culture was the first to use a written language?

4. How were phonetic sounds represented in language?

5. What did the written language provide that helped to progress the intellect of mankind?

(see the answer keys)

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