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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Chaotic looking numbers may have simplistic algorithms but why are many difficult to determine?
(a) The number is too complex.
(b) The number is too difficult to compress through computation.
(c) It is impossible to work back from the number to find them.
(d) Because they are not computable.

2. What does a closed system made up of a hot part and a cold part attain as the heat passes from the hot part to the cold part?
(a) Equilibrium.
(b) Controlled environment.
(c) Neutrality.
(d) 32 degrees F.

3. When were computers first unveiled?
(a) After World War II.
(b) Just before the Korean War.
(c) At the end of the Eisenhower administration.
(d) Pre-World War II.

4. The connection of information with entropy and the physical realm proved to have applications in what type of physics?
(a) Theoretical physics.
(b) Quantum physics.
(c) Astrophysics.
(d) Nuclear physics.

5. What is the normal state of quantum particles?
(a) They exist in an unknown state.
(b) The exist in an electrically charged state.
(c) They exist in a subdued state.
(d) They exist in a cloud of probable states all at once.

6. What did the study of thermodynamics not state about the movement of energy?
(a) That it traveled in one direction.
(b) That it was dynamic.
(c) That it traveled in many directions.
(d) That it traveled in random directions with no pattern.

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

8. How can memes be altered?
(a) Through mutation.
(b) Through manipulation.
(c) After a serious illness.
(d) Through mutation and manipulation.

9. How does Wikipedia differ from the Encyclopedia Britannica?
(a) It is not reliable.
(b) It contains questionable material.
(c) It is collaborative and descriptive but not authoritative.
(d) It is collaborative and descriptive but not up to date.

10. How do scientists categorize catchphrases like "Survival of the fittest" and "Read my lips"?
(a) As memes.
(b) As bytes.
(c) As memories.
(d) As bits.

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

12. What did cosmologist George Gamow immediately recognize about DNA as a code and proposed that it could be deciphered mathematically?
(a) It was a code and it could be cloned.
(b) It was dynamic and ever-changing.
(c) It was a code and it could be developed to duplicate.
(d) It was a code and it could be deciphered mathematically.

13. Who suggested that the meaning of the word "entropy" mean the opposite of what it was originally, to describe the part of energy which was available to be converted into work?
(a) James Clerk Maxwell.
(b) Albert Einstein.
(c) Isaac Newton.
(d) Christian Doppler.

14. What are genes?
(a) RNA.
(b) Memory cells.
(c) Part of DNA.
(d) Bits of information.

15. Who is Seth Lloyd?
(a) A physics professor at Harvard.
(b) A theoretical physicist at MIT.
(c) A quantum engineer at MIT.
(d) A astrophysicist at Stanford.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was John von Neumann's theory on the energy cost of information?

2. According to Psychologist George Miller, what type of process takes place in the mind relative to the information it receives?

3. What does the word "cybernetics" mean?

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

5. Shannon used the term entropy to have what meaning in reference to a message?

(see the answer keys)

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