Homework answers / question archive / Chapter 4: Business Hardware   TRUE/FALSE        1) Hardware, in computer terms, refers to the physical components of the computer

Chapter 4: Business Hardware   TRUE/FALSE        1) Hardware, in computer terms, refers to the physical components of the computer

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TRUE/FALSE

 

     1) Hardware, in computer terms, refers to the physical components of the computer.

 

 

     2.   Input devices, most commonly computer monitors and printers, deliver information from the computer to a person.

 

 

     3.   Businesses that must handle business transactions and store large amounts of data in a central computer often use mainframes, which some IT professionals fondly call “big iron.”

 

 

     4.   So far, PCs have trailed notebooks in terms of speed, memory, and hard disk capacity.

 

 

     5.   New processor-making technologies let engineers increase the processing speed of computers while enabling computers to use less energy and give off less heat.

 

 

     6.   The control unit is the part of the CPU where all arithmetic and logic operations take place.

 

 

     7.   All other things being equal, the greater the clock rate, the faster the machine, because it can fetch, decode, execute, and store more instructions per second.

 

     8.   Optical bar recognition senses data encoded in the series of thick and thin black bars in bar codes.

 

     9.   The Mac OS and Windows Vista operating systems include a voice recognition feature.

 

   10.   Popular output devices include the keyboard, mouse, trackball, microphone, and various types of scanners.

 

 

   11.   It is likely that within a few years we will rarely see CRT monitors in offices or homes.

 

 

   12.   In direct access, data is organized one record after another.

 

 

   13.   Storage and retrieval on sequential storage devices are slow but the devices are inexpensive, which makes tapes suitable for backup purposes.

 

 

   14.   The most widely used storage medium is the optical disc.

 

 

   15.   Optical tape uses the same technology as optical discs to store and retrieve data.

 

 

   16.   Vendors are not offering leasing programs anymore.

 

 

MULTIPLE CHOICE

 

     1.   QuickBiz’s Andrew Langston used his ____ to calculate all the costs that went into a delivery—such as car and truck purchases and maintenance, fuel costs, and driver salaries.

a.	financial information system	c.	data warehouse
b.	inventory control system	d.	relational database

 

 

 

     2.   The ____ is the most important part of any computer.

a.	external storage	c.	main memory
b.	central processing unit	d.	ROM

 

 

 

     3.   ____, also called main memory or primary memory, is located near the CPU and stores data and instructions just before and immediately after the CPU processes them.

a.	External storage	c.	ROM
b.	ALU	d.	Internal memory

 

 

     4.   ____ are the most powerful computers at any given time, but are built especially for assignments that require arithmetic speed.

a.	Mainframe computers	c.	Supercomputers
b.	Mega-servers	d.	Workstations

 

 

 

     5.   ____ are usually used as a shared resource, serving hundreds of users that connect to them from personal computers.

a.	Microcomputers	c.	Workstations
b.	Midrange computers	d.	PDAs

 

 

 

     6.   ____ are typically used for computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), complex simulation, and scientific applications.

a.	Midrange computers	c.	Mainframe computers
b.	Workstations	d.	Supercomputers

 

 

 

     7.   In recent years we have experienced an increasing trend of ____, building several technologies into a single piece of hardware.

a.	technology convergence	c.	parallel technology
b.	computer convergence	d.	technology resurgence

 

 

 

     8.   The CPU consists of two units: the ____ and the arithmetic logic unit (ALU).

a.	control unit	c.	control gate
b.	storage unit	d.	storage device

 

 

 

     9.   The CPU performs four functions in every cycle: ____, decode, execute, and store.

a.	bring	c.	transport
b.	expose	d.	fetch

 

 

 

   10.   The ____ is the maximum number of bits that the control unit can fetch from primary memory in one machine cycle.

a.	character	c.	data word
b.	byte	d.	bit

 

 

   11.   Current microcomputers have words of ____ and 64 bits.

a.	16	c.	32
b.	24	d.	48

 

 

   12.   The combination of ____ and clock rate determines throughput.

a.	bus width	c.	bus height
b.	RAM width	d.	ROM size

 

 

 

   13.   The ____ keyboard was originally designed to slow down typing, because early mechanical typewriters jammed when users typed too fast.

a.	Dvorak	c.	Lazlo
b.	English	d.	QWERTY

 

 

 

   14.   ____ keyboards are split in the middle, and the two parts are twisted outward to better fit the natural position of the forearms.

a.	Ergonomic	c.	Dvorak
b.	QWERTY	d.	Comfort

 

 

 

   15.   Unlike optical mark recognition, ____ is often used to try to interpret handwritten and printed texts not originally designed for source data entry.

a.	ODR technology	c.	OC technology
b.	OCR technology	d.	OR technology

 

 

   16.   Because ____ reduces the amount of paper in organizations, some of its most enthusiastic adopters are companies in paper-intensive fields such as law, retail, insurance, and banking.

a.	processing	c.	imaging
b.	OMR	d.	printing

 

 

 

   17.   Although ____ systems vary in sophistication, all receive voice input from a microphone or telephone and process it with software.

a.	mp3	c.	chat processing
b.	wma	d.	speech recognition

 

 

 

   18.   Images on a monitor are made up of small dots called ____.

a.	dotties	c.	pixtels
b.	pixels	d.	grains

 

 

 

   19.   Two qualities to check when purchasing a laser or ink-jet printer are speed, measured in ____, and density, measured in dots per inch (DPI).

a.	characters per second (cps)	c.	pages per minute (PPM)
b.	words per minute (wpm)	d.	Kbytes per second (Kbps)

 

 

 

   20.   There are two basic types of access modes in data storage: ____ and direct (random) access.

a.	selective	c.	haphazard
b.	indirect	d.	sequential

 

 

 

   21.   In recent years the most important impetus for acquisition of hard disks has been the construction of ____, large databases that maintain mainly consumer purchase records.

a.	data houses	c.	byte houses
b.	byte warehouses	d.	data warehouses

 

 

 

   22.   As an independent memory device, flash memory takes two main forms: as a memory card , and as a(n) ____.

a.	USB port	c.	index drive
b.	USB drive	d.	index port

 

 

 

   23.   Memory cards of the same storage capacity are significantly different in price due to ____.

a.	storage materials	c.	durability
b.	transfer rate	d.	data quality

 

 

 

   24.   Storage area network (SAN) identifies large quantities of data, called ____, and therefore can transfer and back up large amounts of data at a time.

a.	data segments	c.	word segments
b.	word blocks	d.	data blocks

 

 

 

   25.   The most common computer-related type of ____ is carpal tunnel syndrome.

a.	RSI	c.	SRI
b.	CVS	d.	VCS

 

 

 

   26.   While the great capacity and low cost of CDs are appealing, the ____ of magnetic hard disks is still significantly better than that of CDs and their faster relatives, DVDs.

a.	durability	c.	reliability
b.	transfer rate	d.	portability

 

 

 

   27.   Even if storage cost is not as attractive as that of CDs, portability and the fact that their ports are ubiquitous in PCs might push one toward selecting a ____.

a.	Zip disk	c.	flash disk
b.	USB flash drive	d.	memory card

 

 

 

COMPLETION

 

     1.   ____________________ receive signals from outside the computer and transfer them into the computer.

 

 

     2.   Supercomputers contain multiple processors that let them perform ____________________ and run at great speeds.

 

 

     3.   ____________________ is the collective name for all personal computers (PCs), notebook computers, and handheld computers.

 

 

     4.   Processing more than one program, or processing several parts of a program, at the same time is often called ____________________, whereby each process is a thread.

 

     5.   The control unit uses special circuitry called a(n) ____________________, which synchronizes all tasks.

 

     6.   ____________________ is the number of bits per second that the bus can accommodate.

 

     7.   Some operating systems, such as Windows, let users map ____________________ keys into a Dvorak layout.

 

     8.   With a(n) ____________________, a user controls the cursor by moving his or her finger along a touch-sensitive pad.

 

     9.   In a(n) _________________________ monitor, the inner side of the screen has a layer of tiny phosphoric dots, which make up the pixels.

 

   10.   The most common type of flat-panel monitor is the ____________________.

 

   11.   A(n) ____________________ consists of one or more rigid platters installed in the same box that holds the CPU and other computer components, or attached externally to the computer, usually through a USB port.

 

 

   12.   ____________________ is a memory chip that can be rewritten and hold its content without electric power.

 

   13.   The fact that there is no need to wait for a disk to rotate in order to locate data—time that is called latency—makes _________________________ up to 250 times faster than magnetic disks.

 

   14.   DAS, NAS, and SAN often include ____________________, whereby data is replicated on different disks to enhance processing speed and fault-tolerance.

 

ESSAY

 

     1.   Identify the four basic operations a computer must handle.

 

 

     2.   What factors make one computer more powerful than another?

 

 

     3.   Describe ergonomic keyboards.

 

     4.   What are impact printers?

 

     5.   Describe the basic types of access modes.