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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. In the prologue to "The Information", what year does Gleick identify as a crucial year in the history of information and computing?
(a) 1961.
(b) 1955.
(c) 1948.
(d) 1932.

2. What was the intent of the Principia Mathematica?
(a) To prove or disprove quantum consciousness.
(b) To confirm the theory of gravity.
(c) To prove or disprove any statement.
(d) To disprove the theory of relativity.

3. How were phonetic sounds represented in language?
(a) By characters.
(b) By numbers.
(c) By codes.
(d) By images.

4. What jobs were created to handle the increasing number of telephone calls?
(a) Secretaries.
(b) Office assistants.
(c) Call center personnel.
(d) Switchboard operators.

5. All known alphabets are based on the original alphabet that emerged about 1500 B.C. in what area?
(a) The Mediterranean region.
(b) Egypt.
(c) Asia.
(d) South America.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who wrote the work known as the Principia Mathematica?

2. Before "A Table Alphabeticall", how were most catalogs and word lists arranged?

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

4. In his graduate paper, to what did Claude Shannon apply the binary logic of George Boole?

5. There was no "looking up" of information prior to what invention?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who invented the "first" telegraph?

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

3. Who was Claude Shannon?

4. What innovative device did Charles Babbage design and build?

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

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

7. What culture developed the earliest known method of writing language with the use of pictures to represent things?

8. How was binary code of 0s and 1s which is the foundation for computing first conceived and by whom?

9. Who developed the Principia Mathematica and what did it provide?

10. What did Claude Shannon create from examining the statistical makeup of the English language?

(see the answer keys)

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