View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. 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 developed to duplicate.
(b) It was a code and it could be cloned.
(c) It was a code and it could be deciphered mathematically.
(d) It was dynamic and ever-changing.

2. At an exclusive meeting in New York City, Shannon commented that the English language had what characteristic?
(a) A recognizable rhythm.
(b) A unique dynamism.
(c) A specific entropy.
(d) A special intonation.

3. What is a fundamental problem in quantum mechanics?
(a) Observing a particle interferes with its behavior.
(b) It is difficult to observe the quantum particle.
(c) Particles are unstable at the quantum level.
(d) Quantum mechanics is not a proven science.

4. Where does the Internet store memes?
(a) In databases.
(b) In the network.
(c) In search engines.
(d) In clouds.

5. What two disciplines of science were forced together by DNA?
(a) Biology and physics.
(b) Medical research and genetics.
(c) Cellular and anatomical biologies.
(d) Molecular and evolutionary biologies.

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

7. 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) When information was erased heat remained constant.
(d) That no matter what the circumstance, there was no energy cost.

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

9. What does Gleick compare the "Library of Babel" to?
(a) The M-Theory.
(b) Search engines.
(c) Quantum consciousness.
(d) The Internet.

10. What did Chaitin determine about most numbers?
(a) That they have complex alogarithms.
(b) That they are computable.
(c) That they are not computable.
(d) That they can be compressed to manageable entities.

11. 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 store more information.
(c) A quantum computer could process data much faster.
(d) A quantum computer that can have many states at once.

12. What did mathematician Gregory Chaitin propose about Shannon's concept of entropy as uncertainty?
(a) It was related to infinity.
(b) It was related to randomness in numbers.
(c) It was related to the dynamism of numbers.
(d) That the theory was faulty.

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

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

15. Norbert Weiner developed a theory that had implications for the understanding of what system of the human body which might be thought of as a system of switches and signals.
(a) The circulatory system.
(b) The artillery system.
(c) The respiratory system.
(d) The nervous system.

Short Answer Questions

1. What game did Shannon plan to teach his computer to play?

2. 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?

3. What is an algorithm?

4. How are memes replicated?

5. Where is DNA found?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 586 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample