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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 15 and Epilogue.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What can the amount of information in a message be expressed in?
(a) By the algorithm that produces it.
(b) By the bits it contains.
(c) By its integral number.
(d) By the computation that produces it.

2. What claim did Shannon make about the predictable redundancy of the English language?
(a) That this feature could be computed.
(b) This this feature could not be computed.
(c) That this feature could cause programming to be very difficult.
(d) That this feature could cause errors.

3. How many years ago was the first language established?
(a) Between 10,000 and 15,000 years ago.
(b) 100,000 years ago.
(c) 50,000 years ago.
(d) Between 4,500 and 8,000 years ago.

4. What was John von Neumann's theory on the energy cost of information?
(a) The amount of energy spent was minimal.
(b) Operations on bits should be combined to save energy.
(c) Every operation on a bit cost energy.
(d) Energy lost on bit operations cannot be recovered.

5. It had long been noted that physical traits were inheritable and that they had something to do with what other human element?
(a) Amino acids.
(b) Genes.
(c) Chromosomes.
(d) DNA.

Short Answer Questions

1. What development was the last stage of writing?

2. What were the interests of Charles Babbage, a brilliant Englishman who lived in the 19th century?

3. Prior to the electric telegraph, an invention by the same name was created by Claude Chappe and his brothers during what conflict?

4. What did Shannon call the units of information that he was able to measure in a message?

5. What were conflicting statements created by the Principia Mathematica called?

(see the answer key)

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