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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What caused the errors that were contained in the tables of logarithms that had to be calculated themselves?
(a) Under-educated workers.
(b) Printing errors.
(c) Calculations and printing errors.
(d) Calculations.

2. What word book by Robert Cawdrey was published first in 1604?
(a) The Written Word.
(b) The English Language.
(c) A Table Alphabeticall.
(d) Oxford English Dictionary.

3. What were the benefits of the early logarithm tables?
(a) Made work easier.
(b) Provided solutions.
(c) Eliminated calculations.
(d) Cut down on errors and allowed for quicker calculations.

4. What did the written language provide that helped to progress the intellect of mankind?
(a) Education.
(b) Permanence.
(c) Records.
(d) Books.

5. While working on plans for this "analytical engine," Babbage struck an acquaintance with what individual?
(a) Lord Byron.
(b) Ada Lovelace.
(c) John Simpson.
(d) Isaac Newton.

Short Answer Questions

1. Shannon showed that it was theoretically possible to overcome any amount of signal noise by what action?

2. What language do the drums of what is now Zaire mimic?

3. Eliminating noise in Shannon's model meant looking at language in terms of what factor?

4. How were phonetic sounds represented in language?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. What was the purpose of Cawdrey's wordbook, "A Table Alphabeticall?"

2. What were the two stages of a "bit" as conceived by Claude Shannon?

3. Who was Claude Shannon?

4. Who first conceived the idea of a machine that could think and under what circumstances?

5. What technological breakthrough resulted from Claude Shannon's theories and work?

6. Why did Ada Lovelace publish her mathematical arguments anonymously?

7. In modern times, what innovation has had the most impact on language?

8. Who invented the "first" telegraph?

9. By reducing information to its elemental form, Claude Shannon opened up a new field of scientific inquiry that proved to have applications not only in communications, but in what other fields?

10. What are the two "wordbooks" that Gleick refers to in this chapter?

(see the answer keys)

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