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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What did Chaitin mean by a "computable" number?
(a) A number that can be calculated.
(b) A number that could be expressed in a simpler form.
(c) A number that could be expressed in its square root value.
(d) A number that is not a variable.

2. The universe has performed how many "operations"?
(a) An infinite number of "operations."
(b) 10 to the 100th power "operations."
(c) 10 to the 120th power "operations."
(d) Over ten trillion "operations."

3. Why is the randomness of numbers difficult to define?
(a) Numbers have an unpredictability.
(b) A number may be random to some but not to others.
(c) Numbers are infinite.
(d) Numbers send different messages.

4. Memes are messages that are independent of what other element?
(a) Of contradicting information.
(b) Of the people who propagate them.
(c) Of outside influence.
(d) Of new messages.

5. What is the normal state of quantum particles?
(a) The exist in an electrically charged state.
(b) They exist in an unknown state.
(c) They exist in a subdued state.
(d) They exist in a cloud of probable states all at once.

6. Norbert Weiner developed a theory that had implications for the understanding of what system of the human body which might be thought of as a system of switches and signals.
(a) The nervous system.
(b) The circulatory system.
(c) The respiratory system.
(d) The artillery system.

7. What type of information is contained in DNA?
(a) Information key to survival.
(b) Information that is limited to the surrounding cells.
(c) Information that is passed from generation to generation.
(d) Information that is unique to that organism.

8. How does Wikipedia differ from the Encyclopedia Britannica?
(a) It is not reliable.
(b) It is collaborative and descriptive but not up to date.
(c) It is collaborative and descriptive but not authoritative.
(d) It contains questionable material.

9. What can a computable number be compressed into?
(a) A byte.
(b) A standard calculation.
(c) 0s and 1s.
(d) An algorithm.

10. At an exclusive meeting in New York City, Shannon commented that the English language had what characteristic?
(a) A special intonation.
(b) A specific entropy.
(c) A recognizable rhythm.
(d) A unique dynamism.

11. How does heat travel?
(a) Heat can travel from a cold thing to a hot thing.
(b) Heat can travel from a hot thing to a cold thing.
(c) Heat can travel from a hot thing to a warm thing.
(d) Heat can travel from a hot thing to a hotter thing.

12. Why wasn't Shannon able to teach his computer to play a game?
(a) He found it wasn't possible.
(b) His boss nixed the idea.
(c) It would take to long to teach the machine the game.
(d) He thought he would be seen as non-serious.

13. What was Rolf Landauer's opinion of John von Neumann's theory on the energy cost of information?
(a) That it was accurate.
(b) That it was incomplete.
(c) That it needed to be expanded.
(d) That it was incorrect.

14. Schrodinger and others theorized that genes had what role in life?
(a) They are a kind of code for constructing an human cells.
(b) They are a kind of code for identifying an organism.
(c) They are a kind of marker for cell multification.
(d) They are a kind of code for constructing an organism.

15. How much information does the universe hold?
(a) Around 10 to the 90th power bits.
(b) Around 20 to the 100th power bits.
(c) An infinite amount of information.
(d) Approximately 15 trillion bits.

Short Answer Questions

1. Is quantum computing a real possibility?

2. What did cosmologist George Gamow immediately recognize about DNA as a code and proposed that it could be deciphered mathematically?

3. What did Shannon bring to one of his meetings?

4. What two disciplines of science were forced together by DNA?

5. What does the author compare the famous library to?

(see the answer keys)

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