|Name: _________________________||Period: ___________________|
This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 13.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Who was the sixth editor of the Oxford English Dictionary?
(a) John Simpson.
(b) Thomas Edison.
(c) Mark Twain.
(d) Lord Byron.
2. What did Chaitin mean by a "computable" number?
(a) A number that could be expressed in its square root value.
(b) A number that can be calculated.
(c) A number that is not a variable.
(d) A number that could be expressed in a simpler form.
3. Why wasn't Shannon able to teach his computer to play a game?
(a) He thought he would be seen as non-serious.
(b) It would take to long to teach the machine the game.
(c) He found it wasn't possible.
(d) His boss nixed the idea.
4. What word book by Robert Cawdrey was published first in 1604?
(a) The Written Word.
(b) The English Language.
(c) Oxford English Dictionary.
(d) A Table Alphabeticall.
5. What is an algorithm?
(a) An algebraic formula.
(b) A complex calculation.
(c) A set of instructions for arriving at a certain result.
(d) A mathematical theory.
Short Answer Questions
1. What is the modern meaning of "entropy"? "Entropy was not a kind of energy or an amount of energy," Gleick writes (p. 271). It was instead an abstract measurement of the unavailability of energy.
2. What was the goal of James Murray when he wrote the first Oxford English Dictionary in 1879?
3. What game did Shannon plan to teach his computer to play?
4. What were the interests of Charles Babbage, a brilliant Englishman who lived in the 19th century?
5. What are genes?
This section contains 315 words
(approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page)