Exploring Mathematics Chapters 12-13

Question 1

built a calculator called the Step Reckoner

Answer 1

Gottfried Leibnitz

Question 2

built a calculator to help his father, a tax collector

Answer 2

Blaise Pascal

Question 3

built the first general purpose calculating machine

Answer 3

Howard H. Aiken

Question 4

built the difference engine

Answer 4

Charles Babbage

Question 5

invented logarithms

Answer 5

John Napier

Question 6

invented tabulating machines used in the 1890 census

Answer 6

Herman Hollerith

Question 7

spent six years calculating the orbit of Mars

Answer 7

Johannes Kepler

Question 8

wrote the first computer program

Answer 8

August Ada Byron, Lady Lovelace

Question 9

The expression log103 = 0.477 is read as “The logarithm of the number __________ in base __________ is __________.”

Answer 9

three, ten, 0.477

Question 10

Any number raised to the zero power, is

Answer 10

1

Question 11

The number 5,280 changed to standard notation is

Answer 11

5.28 x 10³

Question 12

In the early days of computers, input was mainly by 12

Answer 12

punched cards

Question 13

the letters RAM stand for

Answer 13

random access memory

Question 14

Base 10 uses the digits 0 through

Answer 14

9

Question 15

In computer usage, a single position for a binary digit is called

Answer 15

bit

Question 16

In personal computers, a byte of data is made of how many bits?

Answer 16

8

Question 17

In 1861, James Clerk Maxwell made a color photograph using

Answer 17

the three colors of red, green, and blue

Question 18

Video images can be compressed by

Answer 18

transmitting only those pixels that are different from the previous one

Question 19

Moore’s law states that computers double in power every 18

Answer 19

months

Question 20

A computer with components put farther apart will run more slowly because

Answer 20

electric signals can go no faster than the speed of light

Question 21

The Constitution of the United States has 4,609 words and 26,747 characters. At the rate of 7,000 bytes per second, how long would it take a computer to download the Constitution of the United States as an uncompressed text file?

Answer 21

About 3.8 seconds: 26,747 characters / 7,000 bytes (characters) per second = 3.821 seconds

Question 22

In this list, which one is considered the “heart” of a computer: input, control program, memory, central processing unit, output?

Answer 22

central processing unit