Video #1 - The Machine That Changed the World - Part 1 (Giant Brains)

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x33ku1s

Watch this tape and answer these questions.

1. How did Babbage "program" his computer? Where did he get this idea from? (choose from the possible answers below)

using an abacus / Chinese calculators

magnetic tape / Univac

hand wiring / telephone operators

punch cards / textile industry

his computer was not programmable

2. How did the definition of a computer change between 1935 - 1945?

it once used DC electricity and then switched to AC electricity

it was once a human and then became a machine

it was once powered by running water and then required electricity

it once could only add numbers but later could do add, subtract, multiply and divide

before 1935 there never was the word computer in our language

3. What is meant by the binary system?

it could represent any number using just 0 and 1

it was a system which used 2 computers to double check any calculation

it could work with numbers and letters

it was a way to use either AC and DC electricity to operate the same machine

it consisted of two types of data - input and output

4. What advantage is there to using binary in a computing system? What system did Babbage use?

there were less moving parts / he used binary

it is easier for humans to think this way / he used binary

it is easier for humans to think this way / decimal (base 10) system

it uses much less electricity / he used binary

It could be implemented using an off/on switch / decimal (base 10) system

5. What technology would speed up Zuse's machine?

more training for his technicians

transistors

vacuum tubes

relays

zip disks

6. What was the initial problem during WW II which required intense calculations?

trying to determine where the enemy is

calculating firing tables for cannons

breaking secret codes

calculating casualties

determining the best time to attack

7. What was the ENIAC and how was it originally programmed?

a giant computer filled with vacuum tubes which had the first hard drive installed

a giant computer filled with vacuum tubes which was programmed by rewiring it for each new problem

the first transistorized desktop computer programmed by magnetic tape

the first computer that could program itself

a WWII German computer programmed by captured US scientists

8. How was this programming problem solved?

the tubes would burn out before the program would run so the solution was to write shorter programs

programs were too hard to write so someone invented FORTRAN

few people understood computers so someone started a school for programming

instructions were stored in memory (which could be loaded from cards or magnetic tape) so the computer quickly did something different

programmers made too many mistakes so all programmers were hypnotized to reduce errors

9. How did Turing's vision of the computer differ from his comrades?

he thought that the computer could carry out any logical operation if given well defined rules

he believed that computers would eventually take over the world

he thought they would only do arithmetic and nothing else

he envisioned a day when we would go to war with computers

he believed humans and computers would merge to form a new species

10. What was Turing's test for intelligence?

if a computer can add numbers faster than a human, it is intelligent

if a computer can outperform a chimpanzee, it is intelligent

if a computer can beat the world chess champion, it is intelligent

if a computer can repair itself, it is intelligent

a machine can be considered intelligent if you can be fooled into thinking that you are conversing with a person rather than a machine