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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. What code did Claude Shannon apply to relay switches which could either be open or closed?
(a) 0 and 1.
(b) 2 and 4
(c) .1 to .5
(d) 1 and 100

2. The telegraph invented by Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail was based on what function?
(a) Logarithms.
(b) Opening and closing the electric circuit.
(c) The Morse Code.
(d) Capturing electrical impulses.

3. What was difficult for people to accept about telegraph communications?
(a) That people could understand the tapping sounds.
(b) Why a physical message wasn't necessary.
(c) That electricity was essential in sending the messages.
(d) That it wasn't a fraud.

4. Gleick presents his intention to trace the growth of both the concept of information and information itself by identifying what key elements?
(a) The people and thinking that contributed to it.
(b) Society and culture.
(c) Origin and reliability of sources.
(d) Nation and type of governance.

5. Who first defined the concept of "bandwith"?
(a) Harry Nyquist.
(b) Alexander Graham Bell.
(c) Samuel Morse.
(d) Albert Einstein.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. A new interest in what pursuit arose following the rise of the telegraph?

3. What was the small device intended to replace bulky vacuum tubes perfected by Bell Laboratories called?

4. How were phonetic sounds represented in language?

5. Shannon proposed a solution for overcoming extra noise in his communication model that mimicked what early communicators?

Short Essay Questions

1. What were the two stages of a "bit" as conceived by Claude Shannon?

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

3. Who invented the "first" telegraph?

4. By reducing information to its elemental form, Claude Shannon opened up a new field of scientific inquiry that proved to have applications not only in communications, but in what other fields?

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

6. In modern times, what innovation has had the most impact on language?

7. What impact did the electric telegraph have on the world?

8. Who first conceived the idea of a machine that could think and under what circumstances?

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

10. What was the purpose of Cawdrey's wordbook, "A Table Alphabeticall?"

(see the answer keys)

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