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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. Why did Lovelace publish her mathematical arguments anonymously?
2. While working on plans for this "analytical engine," Babbage struck an acquaintance with what individual?
3. What were the interests of Charles Babbage, a brilliant Englishman who lived in the 19th century?
4. By 1930, what had replaced the telegraph as the most advanced means of communication?
5. All known alphabets are based on the original alphabet that emerged about 1500 B.C. in what area?
Short Essay Questions
1. By the 1930s the telephone had replace the telegraph as the most advanced means of communication. What advantages did the telephone have over the telegraph?
2. 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?
3. What was the purpose of Cawdrey's wordbook, "A Table Alphabeticall?"
4. How did the development of the written language assist Greek philosophers in advancing mankind?
5. In modern times, what innovation has had the most impact on language?
6. What did Claude Shannon create from examining the statistical makeup of the English language?
7. Who developed the Principia Mathematica and what did it provide?
8. Who first at the concept of "bandwith" and in what context was it first conceived?
9. What are the two "wordbooks" that Gleick refers to in this chapter?
10. What were the two stages of a "bit" as conceived by Claude Shannon?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
What did Charles Bennet put forward to possibly replace "bits" in information processing? How was Bennet's work related to quantum physics?
Essay Topic 2
What were the views of Rolf Landauer and John von Neumann on the energy cost of information processing? How was von Neuman's theory disproved and by whom?
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?
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This section contains 710 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) |
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