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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How did people save money in sending telegraph messages?
(a) By creating their own code.
(b) By not using it.
(c) By compressing the message.
(d) By bribing the operators.

2. Why did Lovelace publish her mathematical arguments anonymously?
(a) She didn't want to embarrass her father.
(b) She wasn't sure her arguments were correct.
(c) Women were not expected to engage in scientific or academic efforts.
(d) She didn't want to appear more intelligent than Babbage.

3. The early telegraph had trouble functioning under what conditions?
(a) Migratory seasons.
(b) Overuse.
(c) Fog and rain.
(d) Sunny skies.

4. What was the main form of communication in the late 1940s?
(a) The telegraph.
(b) Letters.
(c) The telephone.
(d) Special couriers.

5. Who devised a way to multiply and divide numbers by adding or subtracting their logarithms?
(a) John Napier.
(b) Thomas Fincke.
(c) Isaac Newton.
(d) Aristotle.

Short Answer Questions

1. What were the benefits of the early logarithm tables?

2. What uses one symbol to represent one "minimal sound"?

3. Eliminating noise in Shannon's model meant looking at language in terms of what factor?

4. While working on plans for this "analytical engine," Babbage struck an acquaintance with what individual?

5. How did the drummers of Africa differentiate between similar words?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who first at the concept of "bandwith" and in what context was it first conceived?

2. After the use of pictures, what were the next two stages of language development?

3. What were examples of the use of mathematics in the Babylonian culture?

4. What advanced form of communication was beginning to emerge in the 1840s?

5. While Shannon worked on secret cryptography projects for the US government during World War II, what theory about information did he conceive?

6. What are the two "wordbooks" that Gleick refers to in this chapter?

7. While working on plans for this "analytical engine," Babbage struck an acquaintance with what young woman?

8. Why did Ada Lovelace publish her mathematical arguments anonymously?

9. How was the "telephone number" born?

10. Who was Claude Shannon?

(see the answer keys)

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