3-6 computing power
Apr. 13
Name:______________________________________________
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/computing-power.htm
1. As it turns out, that's the secret behind computing power. It all comes down to how fast a
machine can perform an _____________________________.
2. Within your computer's CPU is an electronic _______________.
3. The clock's job is to create a series of electrical pulses at
regular_______________________
4. When you talk about how many gigahertz your processor has, you're really talking about
_________ speed
5. Clock speed refers to how many electrical pulses your CPU sends out each
_________________.
6. A 3.2 gigahertz processor sends out around 3.2 billion pulses each _____________.
7. While it's possible to push some processors to speeds faster than their advertised limits - a process called ________________________
8. As of March 2010, the record for processing power goes to a Cray XT5 computer called
Jaguar. The Jaguar supercomputer can process up to 2.3
_______________calculations per second
1. What does CPU stand for?

Core processing unit

Computer processing unit

Central processing unit
2. When was the first CPU introduced?

1961

1971

1981
3. Out of what material are computer chips made?

Plastic

Silicon

Olestra
4. The width of the smallest wire on a computer chip is typcially measured in:

Millimeters

Microns

Nanometers
5. Which of the following is not part of a computer chip's job?

Performing mathematical operations

Moving data from one memory location to another
3-6 computing power
Apr. 13

Starting up the computer
6. To what do buses and lines connect in a computer chip?

ROM

RAM

ROM and RAM
7. What does ROM stand for?

Read-only memory

Random-only memory

Read-on memory
8. On a PC, what do the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) instructions do?

Load the operating system

Open latches

Test hardware in the machine
9. Computer chip designers create language instructions that the microprocessor reads. What part of the computer
can translate the words from the instructions into bit patterns the chip can understand?

The assembler

The program counter

The ALU
10. About how much address space can a 64-bit microprocessor access?

4 GB

1,000 GB

One billion GB