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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Each square of Turing's imaginary machine would have what coding?

2. What language do the drums of what is now Zaire mimic?

3. How were telegraph messages priced?

4. Who invented the telegraph?

5. What caused the errors that were contained in the tables of logarithms that had to be calculated themselves?

Short Essay Questions

1. What innovation was made in the 17th century by Scot mathematician John Napier?

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

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

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

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

6. Who invented the "first" telegraph?

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

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

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

10. 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?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What were early theories about genetics? What are genes? What were the opinions and theories on genes expressed by zoologist Richard Dawson in his book, "The Selfish Gene"?

Essay Topic 2

What kind of "telegraph" was invented by two French brothers and how did it function. What was the downside of this invention? Why was human error a factor in this process?

Essay Topic 3

Describe the work of Charles Babbage. What was the purpose of his machine, the "difference engine" and how did it function? What contribution did the Babylonians make to mathematics and how was it relevant to knowledge sharing?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 629 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample