2: The System Unit - Processing and Memory

Question 1

“natural language” of computers that can only understand two states, “on” and “off” (0s and 1s)

Answer 1

binary form

Question 2

the smallest unit of data a digital (binary) computer can recognize - represented by a 0 or 1

Answer 2

bit

Question 3

a group of 8 bits - often used in context of digital data storage

Answer 3

byte

Question 4

a group of approximately 1,000 bytes (1,024 bytes exactly)

Answer 4

kilobyte (KB)

Question 5

a group of approximately 1 million bytes

Answer 5

megabyte (MB)

Question 6

a group of approximately 1 billion bytes

Answer 6

gigabyte (GB)

Question 7

a group of approximately 1 trillion bytes

Answer 7

terabyte (TB)

Question 8

numbering system that represents all numbers using 10 symbols (0-9)

Answer 8

decimal numbering system

Question 9

numbering system that represents all numbers using only 2 symbols, 0 and 1 - used by ___ computers

Answer 9

binary numbering system

Question 10

a fixed-length binary coding system used to represent text-based data for computer processing on many types of computers - focused on Latin alphabet and English language

Answer 10

ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange)

Question 11

an international coding system that can be used to represent text-based data in any written language - has been widely implemented

Answer 11

Unicode

Question 12

image made up of a grid of small dots (pixels) that are colored appropriately to represent an image

Answer 12

bitmap image

Question 13

digital representations of sound at particular moments that recreate audio when played back in proper order - thousands every second

Answer 13

samples

Question 14

still image within video data that creates illusion of movement when played rapidly one after the other

Answer 14

frame

Question 15

a binary-based language for representing computer programs that the computer can execute directly

Answer 15

machine language

Question 16

the main box of a computer that houses the CPU, motherboard, memory, and other devices

Answer 16

system unit

Question 17

the main circuit board of a computer, located inside the system unit, to which all computer system components connect

Answer 17

motherboard

Question 18

special connector exposed through the exterior of the system unit case that connects external devices to the motherboard

Answer 18

port

Question 19

the chip located on the motherboard of a computer that performs most of the processing for a computer

Answer 19

central processing unit (CPU)

Question 20

the central processing unit (CPU) for a personal computer

Answer 20

microprocessor

Question 21

CPUs that contain the processing components (cores) of multiple independent processors on a single CPU (2 in dual-core CPU, 4 in quad-core CPU)

Answer 21

multi-core CPUs

Question 22

the chip that does the processing needed to display images on the screen - can be located on the motherboard, inside the CPU, or on a video graphics board

Answer 22

graphics processing unit (GPU)

Question 23

the amount of data (measured in bits or bytes) that a CPU can manipulate at one time

Answer 23

word

Question 24

group of fast memory circuitry located on or near the CPU to help speed up processing

Answer 24

cache memory

Question 25

an electronic path on the motherboard or within the CPU or other computer component along which data is transferred

Answer 25

bus

Question 26

the amount of data that can be theoretically transferred through a communications medium in a given period of time

Answer 26

bandwidth

Question 27

the amount of data that is actually transferred through a communications medium under real-life conditions

Answer 27

throughput

Question 28

chip-based storage that is located inside the system unit and used by computer to store data on a short-term, temporary basis

Answer 28

memory

Question 29

a characteristic of memory or storage in which data is not retained when the power to the computer is turned off

Answer 29

volatile

Question 30

a characteristic of memory or storage in which data is retained even when the power to the computer is turned off

Answer 30

nonvolatile

Question 31

AKA system memory - chips connected to the motherboard that provide a temporary location for the computer to hold data and program instructions while they are needed

Answer 31

RAM (random access memory)

Question 32

high-speed memory built into the CPU that temporarily stores data during processing

Answer 32

register

Question 33

nonvolatile chips located on the motherboard into which data or programs have been permanently stored

Answer 33

read-only memory (ROM)

Question 34

nonvolatile memory chips that can be used for storage by the computer or user, built into a computer or a storage medium - allows for firmware to be updated

Answer 34

flash memory

Question 35

a location on the motherboard into which expansion cards are inserted

Answer 35

expansion slot

Question 36

a circuit board that can be inserted into an expansion slot location on a computer’s motherboard to add additional functionality or to connect a peripheral device to that computer

Answer 36

expansion card

Question 37

a bus on the motherboard used to connect peripheral devices

Answer 37

expansion bus

Question 38

the bus used to connect the CPU directly to RAM

Answer 38

memory bus

Question 39

the bus that connects the CPU to the chipset that connects to the rest of the bus architecture

Answer 39

frontside bus (FSB)

Question 40

a bus used to connect up to 127 peripheral devices to a computer without requiring the use of additional expansion cards

Answer 40

Universal Serial Bus (USB)

Question 41

a high-speed bus standard sometimes used to connect digital video cameras and other multimedia hardware to a computer - developed by Apple

Answer 41

FireWire

Question 42

phenomenon describing how approximately every 18 months, technology advances to the point where the number of transistors in a modern CPU doubles

Answer 42

Moore's Law

Question 43

the part of a CPU core that performs logical operations and integer arithmetic - performs spell check, photo editing, burning CDs, etc.

Answer 43

arithmetic/logic unit (ALU)

Question 44

the part of a CPU core that performs decimal arithmetic

Answer 44

floating point unit (FPU)

Question 45

the part of a CPU core that coordinates its operations and activities - directs the flow of electronic traffic

Answer 45

control unit

Question 46

the part of a CPU core that attempts to retrieve data and instructions before they are needed for processing in order to avoid delays

Answer 46

prefetch unit

Question 47

the part of a CPU core that translates instructions into a form that can be processed by the ALU and FPU

Answer 47

decode unit

Question 48

the part of a CPU core that allows it to communicate with other CPU components

Answer 48

bus interface unit

Question 49

the timing mechanism within the computer system that synchronizes the computer’s operations - each tick is a "cycle", and the number of cycles per second is measured in Hz

Answer 49

system clock

Question 50

CPU's ability to process more than one piece of microcode at a time (multiple instructions per cycle)

Answer 50

superscalar

Question 51

the series of operations involved in the execution of a single machine-level instruction (fetch, decode, execute, store)

Answer 51

machine cycle

Question 52

the capability of a CPU or CPU core to begin processing a new instruction as soon as the previous instruction completes the first stage of the machine cycle

Answer 52

pipelining

Question 53

the capability to use multiple processors or multiple processing cores in a single computer, usually to process multiple jobs at one time faster than could be performed with a single processor

Answer 53

multiprocessing

Question 54

a processing technique that uses multiple processors or multiple processing cores simultaneously, usually to process a single job as fast as possible

Answer 54

parallel processing

Question 55

the science of creating tiny computers and components by working at the individual atomic and molecular levels

Answer 55

nanotechnology

Question 56

a technology that applies the principles of quantum physics and quantum mechanics to computers to direct atoms or nuclei to work together as quantum bits (qubits), which function simultaneously as the computer’s processor and memory

Answer 56

quantum computing

Question 57

a computer that uses light, such as from laser beams or infrared beams, to perform digital computations

Answer 57

optical computer