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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does the size of the algorithm indicate about the number?
(a) Its simplicity.
(b) Its computable nature.
(c) Its capacity for computation.
(d) Its complexity.

2. What did Shannon bring to one of his meetings?
(a) A computer.
(b) A newly developed programming language.
(c) A robot.
(d) A computer scientist.

3. How much information does the universe hold?
(a) Around 20 to the 100th power bits.
(b) An infinite amount of information.
(c) Approximately 15 trillion bits.
(d) Around 10 to the 90th power bits.

4. How does Gleick see the universe?
(a) As a giant computer.
(b) As an infinite stream of knowledge.
(c) As a colossal Internet.
(d) As a cloud of quantum particles.

5. What was Rolf Landauer's opinion of John von Neumann's theory on the energy cost of information?
(a) That it needed to be expanded.
(b) That it was accurate.
(c) That it was incomplete.
(d) That it was incorrect.

6. What did Chaitin propose using to express a computable number into another form?
(a) By using algebra,
(b) By using advanced calculus.
(c) By using the Turing machine.
(d) By using complex calculations.

7. The universe has performed how many "operations"?
(a) An infinite number of "operations."
(b) Over ten trillion "operations."
(c) 10 to the 120th power "operations."
(d) 10 to the 100th power "operations."

8. A psychologist named George Miller noticed that people seem to be able to easily remember up to how many items at a time?
(a) Five.
(b) Twelve.
(c) Ten.
(d) Seven.

9. Memes are messages that are independent of what other element?
(a) Of the people who propagate them.
(b) Of contradicting information.
(c) Of new messages.
(d) Of outside influence.

10. What did Charles Bennet prove about energy cost?
(a) That no matter what the circumstance, there was no energy cost.
(b) When information was erased was entropy changed and heat dissipated.
(c) When information was erased entropy did not change.
(d) When information was erased heat remained constant.

11. DNA is made up of of how many different nucleotides?
(a) Four.
(b) Three.
(c) Eight.
(d) Six.

12. What is DNA also known as?
(a) Deoxyribonucleic acid.
(b) Cells.
(c) Amino acid.
(d) Defining neutrino acid.

13. What is the advantage of using quantum particles in the place of bits?
(a) A quantum computer would be more efficient.
(b) A quantum computer could process data much faster.
(c) A quantum computer that can have many states at once.
(d) A quantum computer could store more information.

14. What library once helped writing from all over the known world?
(a) The famous library in Sparta.
(b) The famous library at Alexandria.
(c) The famous library at Oxford.
(d) The famous library of the Roman Empire.

15. What comment did IBM researcher Charles Bennet make about the amount of information in a message?
(a) Is not a good measurement of its capacity.
(b) Is not a good measure of its ability for computation.
(c) Is not a good measurement of its meaningfulness.
(d) Is not a good measurement of its importance.

Short Answer Questions

1. What claim did Shannon make about the predictable redundancy of the English language?

2. Why are people able to recall the name of a tune?

3. Is quantum computing a real possibility?

4. What two disciplines of science were forced together by DNA?

5. What did cosmologist George Gamow immediately recognize about DNA as a code and proposed that it could be deciphered mathematically?

(see the answer keys)

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