Early Information Processing Section 1

Question 1

Great Britain before the Industrial Revolution

Answer 1

Agricultural society with need for a more efficient, mechanized workforce

Question 2

Adam Smith’s 1776 “The Wealth of Nations”

Answer 2

Describes breaking complex manufacturing tasks into simple steps

Question 3

Difference Engine

Answer 3

Would print navigational tables, supported by the British government, Never had a fully functional prototype

Question 4

Analytical Engine

Answer 4

General-purpose calculating machine, not supported by the British government, never manufactured due to lack of government support

Question 5

Ada Lovelace

Answer 5

Wrote the algorithm for computing Bernoulli numbers on the Analytical Engine.
Considered the first computer programmer.

Question 6

Telegram messages

Answer 6

Sent via electric pulses. Could be received and transmitted in a matter of hours.

Question 7

Bernoulli numbers

Answer 7

Sequence of rational numbers that are defined by the exponential function

Question 8

Entscheidungsproblem

Answer 8

Proposed by German mathematician David Hilbert during the 1920s.
“Does every problem have an algorithmic solution?” Proofed by Alonzo Church and Alan Turing.

Question 9

Turing Machine

Answer 9

Proofed by Alan Turing to solve the Entscheidungsproblem during the 1930s. Has memory, programmability, and conditional branching.

Question 10

Memory

Answer 10

Can be read from and written to

Question 11

Programmability

Answer 11

Can run algorithms and lists of instructions

Question 12

Conditional Branching

Answer 12

Can make decisions and run different instructions based on prior decisions

Question 13

Alan Turing

Answer 13

Worked as a codebreaker during World War II. Made bombes. Developed the electronic computer called the “ACE.”

Question 14

The U.S Census

Answer 14

First conducted in 1790 and is carried out every 10 years.

Question 15

1890 U.S Census

Answer 15

Directed by Robert Porter. The slow tabulating problem was solved by Herman Hollerith.

Question 16

Herman Hollerith

Answer 16

Solved the 1890 Census problem. Inspired by sheets of paper in an organelle. Hollerith’s machine kept track of information w/ holes, like a scantron.

Question 17

Computer’s ancestors

Answer 17

Office automation devices that had word processing, information storage + retrieval, and financial analysis.

Question 18

Typewriter

Answer 18

Invented by Christopher Lathan Sholes. Manufactured by Philo Remington in 1873.

Question 19

Filing Cabinet

Answer 19

Invented by the Rand Kardex Company. Was efficient and expandable.

Question 20

Adding Machine

Answer 20

Invented by Dorr E. Felt and William S. Burroughs. Designed for addition.

Question 21

Cash Register

Answer 21

Invented by James Ritty and marketed by John H. Patterson. Showed purchase amount to clerks and customers.

Question 22

Comptometer

Answer 22

Invented by Dorr E. Felt. Made around the same time that Burroughs invented a calculator. Could not print.

Question 23

Thomas J. Watson Sr.

Answer 23

Fired from the National Cash Register Company. Founded Computing Tabulating Recording Company (now IBM)

Question 24

Differential Analyzer

Answer 24

Invented by Vannevar Bush from 1928-1931. Could elaborate electronics to solve differential equations. Could tackle engineering problems.

Question 25

Howard Aiken

Answer 25

Wanted to use calculating machines to solve nonlinear equations. Created the Mark I.

Question 26

Harvard Mark I

Answer 26

Invented by Howard Aiken. Harvard rejected his funding but IBM agreed. Could add, subtract, multiply, and perform logarithms and trigonometric functions.

Question 27

The Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC)

Answer 27

Created by John Atanasoff and Clifford Berry at Iowa State. Invented to solve linear equations. Was abandoned in 1942.

Question 28

Differential Analyzer (qualities)

Answer 28

Mechanical, no conditional branching

Question 29

Mark I (qualities)

Answer 29

Mechanical, no conditional branching

Question 30

Atansoff-Berry Computer (ABC) qualities

Answer 30

Electrical, no conditional branching

Question 31

Konrad Zuse’s computers

Answer 31

Wanted to automate calculations for civil engineering projects.
Used binary arithmetic.
German army refused to fund Zuse’s project.

Question 32

Z1 (computer)

Answer 32

Prototype made by Konrad Zuse. Had an arithmetic and memory unity.