Topic 5 - Fundamentals of Data Representation - Error Detection

Question 1

What is a parity bit?

Answer 1

A single bit based on the transmitted data that can bed used to check for errors in the data

Question 2

How does the parity bit function?

Answer 2

The value of the parity bit is calculated to make the total number of 1s in the data even or odd based on the type of parity. If the parity bit doesn’t correspond to the data, a request is sent for retransmission

Question 3

How does majority voting function?

Answer 3

Each bit of the data is sent multiple times and the most commonly occurring value is taken to be correct

Question 4

How does a checksum function?

Answer 4

An algorithm is used to create a checksum based on the data, the algorithm depends on the system. The checksum is amended to the data and the recipient compares the checksum to the result of the same algorithm.

Question 5

How does a check digit function?

Answer 5

The same as a checksum but only a single digit is added