NPTEL Online Certification Courses

Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur

Computer Architecture and Organization

Assignment 1
TYPE OF QUESTION: MCQ/MSQ
Number of questions: 10 Total mark: 10 x 1 = 10
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1. Which of the following statement(s) is (are) true?

a. The computer systems are built on top of component design and functional
blocks.
b. Computer architecture deals with the integration of components to build a
computer system.
c. An architect's task in civil construction is similar to the principle of a computer
organization.
d. An architect's job in civil construction is similar to the principle of a computer
architecture.
Correct Answer: a, b, d
Detailed Solution: Computer organization refers to the design of the components and
functional blocks using which computer systems are built. Computer architecture deals
with integrating components to build a computer system. Computer architecture is similar
to an architect’s job in civil construction.
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2. Which of the following order of evolution is true concerning the timeline of evolution of
computers?
a. Vacuum tubes, Pascaline, Babbage engine, Intel i7
b. Pascaline, Intel i7, Babbage engine, Vacuum tubes
c. Babbage engine, Pascaline, Vacuum tubes, Intel i7
d. Pascaline, Babbage engine, Vacuum tubes, Intel i7
Correct Answer: d
Detailed Solution: Pascaline was the first known computing machine, followed by the
Babbage engine, vacuum tubes, and so on.

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Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur

3. Which of the following statement(s) is (are) true for Moore’s law?

a. The number of chips inside a transistor doubles every 18 months.
b. The number of transistors inside an integrated circuit doubles every 18 months.
c. The rate of increase of the number of transistors has slowed in recent years.
d. Moore’s law was stated in 1970.
Correct Answer: b, c
Detailed Solution: Gordon Moore, in 1965, stated that the number of transistors inside an
integrated circuit shall double every 18 months. However, the pace has slowed in recent
years.
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4. Which of the following contains circuitry to perform operations such as addition,

subtraction, multiplication, shifting, etc. in a computer?
a. Arithmetic and Logic Unit
b. Memory Unit
c. Control Unit
d. Input/Output Unit
Correct Answer: a
Detailed Solution: All the calculations in a computer happen inside the ALU.
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5. Which of the following statement(s) is (are) false?

a. The traditional computer systems are also known as von Neumann architecture.
b. All instructions and data are stored in a memory.
c. The central processing unit is also called a control unit.
d. The arithmetic logic unit is responsible for all computations.
Correct Answer: c
Detailed Solution: The central processing unit is also called a processor; it does not
function as control unit.
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6. Which of the following is false concerning the processor?

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a. The processor communicates with the input/output device with the help of an
interface.
b. The processor fetches instructions from memory for execution.
c. The processor directly communicates with the memory.
d. The processor does not use cache memory to communicate with the memory.
Correct Answer: d
Detailed Solution: The processor communicates with the memory either directly or
through the cache memory.
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7. Which of the following statement(s) is (are) true?

a. The primary memory stores the necessary instructions and information for the
processor.
b. The secondary memory acts as a backup.
c. The cache is slower than the primary memory.
d. The memory system is designed as a hierarchy of various levels.
Correct Answer: a, b, d
Detailed Solution: The cache is faster than the primary memory. All the statements (a),
(b), (d) are true.
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8. Choose the wrong one from the statements given below:

a. Byte: A collection of 8 bits
b. Bit: A single binary digit (0 or 1)
c. Nibble: A collection of 6 bits
d. Word: Some multiple of byte
Correct Answer: c
Detailed Solution: Nibble is a collection of 4 bits.
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9. Which of the following statement(s) is (are) false?

a. The speed gap between the speed of a processor and memory is steadily
increasing.
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b. Cache memory is one way of tackling the processor-memory performance gap.

c. Memory determines the overall performance of a computer system.
d. The memory alone determines the overall performance of a computer system.
Correct Answer: d
Detailed Solution: All are true except (d). The memory alone does not determine the
overall performance of a computer system; there are other factors such as processor,
architecture, etc.
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10. A computer requires 39 bits to address a single word in memory. Each word in this
computer is 16 bits. What is the size of the memory?
a. 1 TB
b. 2 TB
c. 3 TB
d. 4 TB
Correct Answer: a.
Detailed Solution:
Address Space = 2n
1 word = 16 bits = 2 bytes
The size of the memory = 239 x 16 bits = 239 x 2 bytes = 240 bytes = 1 TB
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