Fundamentals of Information Technology Unit 1

Unit 1 Basics of Computers

Structure:
1.1 Introduction
Objectives
1.2 Basics of computers
1.3 Characteristics of computers
1.4 Advantages and Limitations of computers
1.5 Organization of a computer
Central Processing Unit
Mother Board
Memory
Input Unit
Output Unit
1.6 Summary
1.7 Terminal Questions
1.8 Answers

1.1 Introduction
Today computers have become part of our life and have changed it
completely. In most areas, current developments are because of computers.
Some such areas include business, education, and banking among others.
A computer is composed of hardware and software, and can exist in a
variety of sizes and configurations. As computers entered our modern
society, people too found it necessary to learn computer skills.
In this unit, we are going to study the basics of computers, their
characteristics. We will also learn about the advantages and limitations of
computers and organization of computers.
Objectives:
After studying this unit, you should be able to:
 define computer
 list and discuss the characteristics of computers
 list the advantages and limitations of computers
 list and discuss components of a computer system

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1.2 Basics of Computer

The term “Computer” is derived from the word “compute”. The word
compute means to calculate. Computer is an electronic device that accepts
information as input from the user, stores information in memory, processes
the information and generates the desired output. Computers are made up
of Electrical, Electronic and Mechanical components. Figure 1.1 shows a
computer system.

Figure 1.1: Computer System

Modern day computers are fast and can process billions of instructions
every second. Computers are used in most of the fields in our daily life.
Almost all automatic tasks are carried out by computers. Some of the
prominent areas where the computers have found its applications include
space research, security systems, and traffic signaling among others.
The monitor displays the information to the user while the keyboard is used
to enter the information in to the computer. The mouse is used to position
the cursor on screen, move an object by dragging, or select an object by
clicking. The system unit is the main part of the computer and contains
various components, such as mother board, CPU, RAM and other
components.
Computers have become a popular device in our daily life due to their
unlimited benefits. By using computers we can listen songs, watch movies,
reserve trains and airlines tickets, withdraw money from ATM, Pay the
telephone and electricity bills, play games like chess, video, and so on.

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Computers are extremely reliable as well. Most errors are caused by

humans, not computers. Computers are capable of storing enormous
amounts of data that can be retrieved very quickly. The capability to store
and retrieve volumes of data is at the core of the information age. Now-a-
days computer is playing an important role in every field just like television,
telephone or other electronic devices at home.
Computers which are in use today are digital computers. They operate on
binary digits 0s and 1s. Input to a digital computer must be discrete rather
than continuous and may consists of combination of numbers, characters
and special symbols. These computers understand information composed
of only 0s and 1s.
Computer Terminology
 Instruction: An instruction is a single operation of a processor defined
by the processor instruction set.
 Program: A program is a sequence of instructions to handle a particular
task.
 Hardware: The physical parts of a computer are called the hardware. In
other words, the units that are visible and units which one can touch and
feel are known as the computer hardware. Some examples for hardware
units are monitor, keyboard, mouse, hard disk, CPU, mother board, and
so on.
 Software: It is a set of programs that give directions to a computer to
perform certain specific task or desired operations. Some examples for
software are compiler, assembler, operating system, programming
languages (C, C++, and so on.).
Components of a Computer: A computer system consists of mainly four
basic units, namely input unit, memory unit, central processing unit and
output unit. Central Processing Unit further includes Arithmetic Logic Unit,
and Control Unit. Figure 1.2 shows computer components.

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Figure 1.2: Computer Components

Input Unit
The input unit is used for entering information into the computer system by
the user for processing. The details of input unit are seen in section 1.5.4.
Memory Unit
The Memory unit is the storage space in the computer. Computer memory
can be classified into two types: primary memory and secondary memory.
The details of memory unit are seen in section 1.5.3.
CPU (Central Processing Unit)
The CPU takes information from the storage unit performs operations and
then it is sent back to the memory unit. CPU includes Arithmetic Logic Unit
(ALU) and Control Unit (CU).
 ALU (Arithmetic Logic Unit): All calculations and comparisons, based on
the instructions provided, are carried out within the ALU. It performs
arithmetic functions like addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and
also logical operations like AND, OR and NOT. The details of ALU are
seen in section 1.5.1.
 Control Unit: Controlling of all operations like input, processing and
output are performed by the control unit. It takes care of step by step
processing of all operations inside the computer. The details of control
unit are seen in section 1.5.1.
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Output Unit
The tasks performed by the output unit are just opposite to that of the input
unit. It accepts output (which are in machine-coded form) produced by the
computer, converts them into the user understandable form and supplies
the converted results to the user with the help of an output devices such as
printer, monitor and many more. The details of output unit are seen in
section 1.5.5.
Self-Assessment Questions
1. __________ is an electronic device that accepts information as input
from the user, stores information in memory, processes the information
and generates the desired output results.
2. Mention any two uses of computers.

1.3 Characteristics of computers

All types of computers have certain common characteristics irrespective of
their type and size – accuracy, speed, reliability, storage, automation,
versatility and diligence.
The important characteristics of a computer are described below:
1. Speed
The computer is a very high speed electronic device. The operations on the
information inside the computer are performed through electronic circuits
according to the given instructions. Human beings take hours to complete
calculations but a computer can perform millions of instructions and per
second. The speed of the computer is usually measured in megahertz
(MHz) or Giga hertz (GHz). Different computers have different speed.
2. Accuracy
The degree of accuracy in a computer is consistently high. If the set of
instructions and correct input information are given to the computer it gives
accurate output result. If the output is incorrect, it indicates that the input is
also incorrect. The errors in the computer are due to incorrect information
and instructions given by the programmer. All the calculations in a computer
are performed with the same accuracy.

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3. Reliability
The output which is generated by the computer is very reliable. It is reliable
only when correct input and program is given into the computer. In the case
of modern computers, the electronic components failure rate is very low.
4. Storage
A computer can store large amounts of information that can be retrieved
whenever required. Data can be stored in secondary storage devices such
as hard disk, which can be kept outside the computer and can be carried to
other computers. The data which is stored in secondary storage devices are
available at any time for processing.
5. Automation
Once the instructions are fed into computer, it performs operations without
interfering with the user. A computer executes instructions one by one
automatically till the end of the program.
6. Versatility
Versatility means performing different types of work at the same time. It is
like multiprocessing. For example you may use the computer to prepare the
results of particular examination, the next moment it could be busy
preparing electricity bills and in-between it may help secretary to trace an
important letter in seconds.
7. Diligence
This characteristic is especially useful for those jobs where same tasks are
being done again and again. The computer is a machine, that can work
continuously for hours together with the same speed and accuracy from the
start till the end and neither lose concentration nor suffers from the human
traits of tiredness.
Self-Assessment Questions
3. The speed of computer is usually measured in __________ or
__________.
4. _________ performs different type of work at the same time like
multiprocessing.
5. ___________ characteristic is especially useful for those jobs where
same tasks are being done again and again.

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1.4 Advantages and Limitations of Computers

Advantages of Computers
 Quality: The tools that come with a computer enable you to create high-
quality documents and drawings. With just a few simple techniques, you
can create documents that look professional.
 Speed: Computers perform many tasks quickly. For example if you mail
a letter to a friend, he or she may receive it in a few days; however, if
you send an e-mail, it will be received instantly.
 Communications: Most computers today can communicate with other
computers, it can be said that computers allow users to communicate
with one another.
 Consistency: Computer generates error-free results, provided the input
is correct and the instructions work.
Limitations of Computers
 A computer cannot think on its own. It can only perform what it is
programmed to do. It can execute only those jobs that are expressed by
a set of instructions to achieve a specific goal.
 A computer does not learn from previous experience.
 A Computer cannot take care of itself like a human.
 A computer does not have feelings such as sadness, happiness, anger
and laughter.

1.5 Organization of a Computer

In section 1.2 we have seen components of a computer. In this section we
will study in detail about each component.
A computer is a fast and accurate device, which can accept information,
store information, process them and give, desired results as output. The
computer is organized into four units such as, Input unit, Memory Unit,
Central Processing Unit (CPU) and Output unit as shown in the figure 1.2.
1.5.1 Central Processing Unit
The central Processing Unit (CPU) is the brain of the computer. The CPU in
a personal computer is usually a single chip. It organizes and carries out

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instructions that come from either the user or from the software. The
processor is made up of many components, but two of them are worth
mentioning at this point. These are the arithmetic and logic units and the
control unit. The control unit controls the electronic flow of information
around the computer. The arithmetic logic unit, ALU, is responsible for
mathematical calculations and logical operations.
The processor is plugged into the computer’s motherboard. The
motherboard is a rigid rectangular card containing the circuitry that connects
the processor and all the other components that make up the personal
computer. In most personal computers, some of the components are
attached directly to the motherboard and others are housed on their own
small circuit boards that plug into the expansion slots built into the
motherboard.
The processing capacity of a computer is measured in terms the amount of
data processed by the CPU in one operation. The CPU has two important
sub units.
1) Arithmetic-Logic unit
2) Control Unit
Arithmetic-Logic Unit (ALU): The ALU is an electronic circuit used to carry
out the arithmetic operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication and
division. The logic unit of ALU performs logic functions such as AND, OR
and NOT. It also performs comparisons such as greater than, less than,
equal to, and so on. The ALU performs logic functions such it performs the
operation on the data provided by the input devices. The ALU operates on
the data available in the main memory and sends them back after
processing again to main memory.
Control Unit: The control unit coordinates the activities of all the other units
in the system. Its main functions are to control the transfer of data and
information between various units and to initiate appropriate actions by the
arithmetic-logic unit. Conceptually, the control unit fetches instructions from
the memory, decodes them, and directs them to various units to perform the
specified tasks.
1.5.2 Motherboard
The motherboard serves as a single platform to connect all the parts of a
computer together. A motherboard connects CPU, memory, hard drives,
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optical drives, video card, sound card and other ports and expansion cards
directly or via cables. It can be considered the backbone of a computer.
The motherboard is mounted inside the case and is securely attached via
small screws through pre-drilled holes. Motherboard contains ports to
connect all the internal components. It provides a single socket for CPU
whereas for memory, normally one or more slots are available.
Motherboards provide ports to attach the floppy drive, hard drive and optical
drives via ribbon cables. Motherboard carries fans and a special port
designed for power supply. Figure 1.3 shows a motherboard.

Figure 1.3: Motherboard

There is a peripheral card slot in front of the motherboard using which video
cards, sound cards and other expansion cards can be connected to
motherboard.
Motherboards carry a number of ports to connect monitor, printer, mouse,
keyboard, speaker, and network cables. Motherboards also provide USB
ports which allow compatible devices to be connected in plug-in/plug-out
fashion for example, pen drive, digital cameras and so on.
1.5.3 Memory
Memory is the storage space in the computer. Memory is divided into large
number of small parts called cells. Each location or cell has a unique
address which varies from zero to memory size minus one. For example if a
computer has 64k words, then this memory unit has 64 * 1024=65536
memory locations. The address of these locations varies from 0 to 65535.
Memory is primarily of two types
 Primary Memory/Main Memory
 Secondary Memory
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Primary Memory (Main Memory)

Primary memory holds only those information on which a computer is
currently working. A computer cannot run without primary memory which is
faster than secondary memory. It has limited capacity and information is lost
when power is switched off. It is generally made up of semiconductor
devices. The information and instructions required to be processed reside in
main memory. Main memory is divided into two subcategories Random
Access Memory (RAM) and Read Only Memory (ROM). You can read and
write data in RAM but the data is volatile or temporary, that is, whenever the
power is switched off the contents of RAM is lost. So it is required to store
the data in the secondary memory, if the data is required for the future use.
But you can only read the data from ROM and you cannot write anything
into it and the data is permanent.
Secondary Memory
Secondary memory is also known as external memory or non-volatile
memory. It is slower than the main memory. Computers can run without
secondary memory. These are used for storing information permanently.
But you can delete the data if you want. CPU directly does not access this
memory instead they are accessed via input-output routines. Contents of
secondary memory are first transferred to main memory, and then CPU can
access it. Some types of secondary memory include floppy disks, fixed
(hard) disks and optical disks. Figure 1.4 shows different kinds of secondary
storage devices.

Figure 1.4: Secondary Memory Devices

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1.5.4 Input Unit

Functions of Input Unit
 The input unit gets the information from various input devices and
makes them available for processing to other units of computer.
 The input information is provided through input devices, such as –
mouse, keyboard, joystick, trackball, etc. Input information can also be
provided by scanning images, video recording, voice recording, etc.
 Irrespective of the kind of input information provided to a computer, all
input devices must translate the input information into a form (machine
language i.e., zeros and ones) that is understandable by the computer.
 The transformation of the input information to machine readable form is
done by the input interface of input device.
Some of the most common and most popularly used input devices are seen
below.
1. Mouse:
This is the most common pointing input device. The information is entered
by pointing the mouse to a location on the computer screen. The mouse
may be used to position the cursor on screen, move an object by dragging,
or select an object by clicking. A pointer on the screen follows the
movements of the mouse. In order to select an option on the computer
screen, the user should move the pointer at the desired position and press
the button on the mouse. The mouse can be used to open menus, select
texts for editing, move objects on the screen, draw images or diagrams and
so on.
A mouse is a small hand-held device having two buttons upper side. In
addition to the buttons, mouse also has a small wheel between the buttons.
The wheel of the mouse is used for up and down movements, for example,
scrolling a long document. Figure 1.5 shows a mouse.

Figure 1.5: Mouse

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2. Light Pen
The light pen, which is a pen like device, is used to select objects directly on
the computer screen. This is also a pointing device, and it is used only with
video displays. Light pens are used for making drawings, graphics and for
menu selections. Drawings can be made by moving the pen on computer
screen. Figure 1.6 shows a light pen.

Figure 1.6: Light pen

3. Touch Screen
Touch screen allows the user to operate/make selections by simply touching
the display screen. It is a display screen that is sensitive to the touch of a
finger. Instead of using a pointing device such as a mouse, you can use
your finger to point directly to objects on the screen. Widely used in ATM
machines. Figure 1.7 shows a touch screen.

Figure 1.7: Touchscreen

4. Joy Stick:
A joy stick is a stick with its base attached to a flexible rubber sheath inside
a plastic cover. The plastic cover contains the circuit that detects the
movement of stick and sends the information to computer. A joystick is

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similar to a mouse, except that with a mouse the cursor stops moving as
soon as you stop moving the mouse. With a joystick, the pointer continues
moving in the direction the joystick is pointing. To stop the pointer, you must
return the joystick to its upright position. Most joysticks include two buttons
called triggers. Joysticks are used mostly for computer games, but they are
also used occasionally for CAD/CAM systems and other applications. Figure
1.8 shows a joy stick.

Figure 1.8: Joy Stick

5. Keyboard:
Keyboards are the most widely used input devices. The most popular
keyboards are those that look, feel, and possibly sound like an ordinary
typewriter keyboard. Generally a keyboard has 105 keys and 12 function
keys arranged at the top of the keyboard, and larger Backspace key, a
numeric keypad, a cursor movement keypad, toggle lights, Shift keys, Alt
keys, Ctrl keys, Caps Lock key, Num Lock key, Spacebar key, Enter key,
Alphabetical keys and so on. Figure 1.9 shows a keyboard.

Figure 1.9: Keyboard

6. Scanners
Scanner is an input device that accepts paper document as an input. It is
used to input data directly into the computer from the source document

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without copying and typing the data. Most scanners collect data from a page
by recording, which areas are light and which areas are dark. It contains a
camera, which is made up of thousands of tiny cells, called charge coupled
devices (CCD). Each CCD detects whether a small part of the image is
either light or dark. It transmits this data to the CPU, which then creates the
image. The quality of scan increases with the increase in resolution. Figure
1.10 shows a scanner.

Figure 1.10: Scanner

7. Optical Character Readers (OCR):

Optical character readers are input devices that are used to read any
printed text. They can interpret handmade marks, handwritten characters,
machine printed characters and special symbols and codes. Optical
character readers scan text character-by-character converts them into
machine-readable codes and store them in the memory. They can read up
to 2400 characters per second. Figure 1.11 shows an optical character
reader.

Figure 1.11: Optical Character Reader

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8. Magnetic Ink Character Reader (MICR):

This is a device that identifies a character that is written with the ink that
contains the particles of magnetic material. This device is mainly used to
read the bank cheques.
9. Bar Code Reader:
This is used to read different kinds of vertical lines known as bars which
signify some information.
10. Touch Pad
Touch pad is a pointing device on a computer display screen. A touch pad
works by sensing the user’s finger movement and downward pressure and it
is an alternative to a mouse and used especially on laptop computers. The
buttons are located below the pad, but most touch pads allow you to
perform “mouse clicks” by tapping on the pad itself. Figure 1.12 shows a
touch pad.

Figure 1.12: Touch Pad

11. Track Point

Track point is also called as pointing stick. It is a cursor-pointing device
developed for IBM’s ThinkPad laptop computers in 1992. It is a red stick and
located in the middle of the keyboard between the G, H and B keys. The
Track Point is operated by pushing in the general direction the user wants
the cursor to move. Increasing pressure causes faster movement. Figure
1.13 shows a track point.

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Figure 1.13: Track Point

Graphics Tablet:
A graphics tablet consists of a flat, touch-sensitive pad and a special “pen”
that works with it. It is used by artists to draw a picture or images onto a
computer screen without using mouse or keyboard. A graphics tablet is also
called as drawing tablet or drawing pad. The pen of the graphics tablet is
pressure sensitive, so pressing harder or softer can result in brush strokes
of different width (in an appropriate graphics program). Figure 1.14 shows a
graphics tablet.

Figure 1.14: Graphics Tablet

Microphone:
Audio input device like a microphone is used to input a person’s voice into
the computer. A microphone can be attached to a computer to record
sound. Audio input to the computer can be used for different purposes like
making telephone calls, for audio and video conferencing over internet, to
record voice, to create audio files etc. Figure 1.15 shows a microphone.

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Figure 1.15: Microphone

1.5.5 Output Unit

Functions of output unit
 The output unit gets the processed information from the computer and
sends it to output device.
 The output information is provided through output devices like display
screen, printer, plotter and speaker.
 The processed information sent to the output device is in machine (0’s
and 1’s) understandable form. This processed information is converted
to human readable form by the output interface of output device.
Output Devices
Output device provide output to the user, which is generated after
processing the input information. The processed information, presented to
the user via the output device. Any peripheral device that converts the
stored binary coded data into convenient external forms as text, graphics,
audio or video are known as Output devices. Some of the most popularly
used Output devices are seen below.
CRT Monitor
The main output device of the computer is visual display unit (VDU),
commonly called as monitor. It consists of a CRT. CRT stands for “Cathode
Ray Tube”. CRT displays characters as an output. Images are formed from
tiny dots called as pixels. The sharpness of the image depends upon the
number of pixels. The spacing of the screen’s tiny phosphor dots is called
the dot pitch (dp), typically .28 or .26 (measured in millimeters).
In traditional computer monitors and televisions CRT technology is used. On
a CRT monitor the image is created by firing electrons from the back of the
tube to phosphors located towards the front of the display. Once the
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electrons hit the phosphors, they light up and are projected on the screen.
On the screen the color is produced by a combination of red, blue and green
light which is often referred to as RGB.
The size of the screen is measured diagonally across the screen, in inches.
The maximum number of pixels is the resolution of the monitor in which it
can display horizontally and vertically (such as 800 x 600, or 1024 x 768, or
1600 x 1200). Based on the settings several resolutions can be displayed
on the screen. Figure 1.16 shows a CRT monitor.

Figure 1.16: CRT Monitor

Flat Panel Monitor

The most common flat-panel technologies include LCD and various types of
Light Emitting Diode (LED).
A flat panel display usually uses an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) screen to
display output on the computer. Several thin layers are present in the LCD
that polarize the light passing through them. The polarization of one layer
contains long thin molecules called liquid crystals. It can be controlled
electronically at each pixel level with varying amounts of light to make a
pixel lighter or darker. Plasma display is one type of flat panel technology. In
computers and especially in laptops LCDs are most commonly used.
There was a low contrast and slow response time in case of older LCDs, but
active matrix LCD screens have a transparent Thin Film Transistor (TFT)
controlling each pixel, so response, contrast, and viewing angle are much
improved.

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Flat panel displays consume less power and are less bulky and much lighter
than CRT monitors. As with CRTs flat panel display size is expressed in
inches and the resolution is the number of pixels horizontally and vertically
on the display. Figure 1.17 shows a flat panel monitor.

Figure 1.17: Flat Panel Monitor

 Light Emitting Diode (LED) Display: LED is another flat-panel

technology commonly used with consumer products, such as alarm
clocks, Christmas lights and so on. Early use of LED technology was
limited because of high cost and difficulties in generating accurate
color. Improvements in technology made LED displays more affordable,
although they are still more expensive than LCD.
 Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) Display: Modern LED displays,
often called Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) displays, achieve
high-quality color display with organic compounds. An OLED display
works without a backlight. A backlight is a form of illumination used in
liquid crystal displays (LCDs). Thus, it can display deep black levels
and can be thinner and lighter than a liquid crystal display (LCD). In low
ambient light conditions (such as a dark room), an OLED screen can
achieve a higher contrast ratio than an LCD, regardless of whether the
LCD uses cold cathode fluorescent lamps or an LED backlight.
Ink Jet Printer
When you need a hardcopy or printed copy from the computer, you have to
connect printer to the computer and install printer drivers. Color ink jet
printer is the most common type of printer for home systems. These printers
creates image by spraying droplets of ink onto the paper. To make color
images the printer needs different colors of ink like black, yellow, cyan and

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magenta. More colors of ink are used by some photo – quality ink jet
printers. These printers are inexpensive, but the cost of accessories like
cartridge and special paper make them costly to operate in the long run for
many purposes.
Laser Printer
A laser printer produces good quality images by the same technology that
photocopiers use. A drum coated with photosensitive material is charged,
then an image is written onto it by a laser (or LEDs) which makes those
areas lose the charge. The drum then rolls through toner (tiny plastic
particles of pigment) that are attracted to the charged areas of the drum.
The toner is then deposited onto the paper, and then fused into the paper
with heat.
Most laser printers are monochrome (one color only, usually black), but
more expensive laser printers with multiple color toner cartridges can
produce color output. Laser printers are faster than ink jet printers. Their
speed is rated in pages per minute (ppm). Laser printers are more
expensive than ink jets, but they are cheaper to run in the long term if you
just need good quality black and white pages.
Speaker
A speaker gives you sound output from your computer. Some speakers are
built into the computer and some are separate. Figure 1.18 shows different
shapes of speakers.

Figure 1.18: Speakers

Activity 1:
1. Write down input and output devices attached to your computer
2. Write down secondary devices that you can attach to your computer.

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Self-Assessment Questions
6. Light pen is an example of ____________________.
7. Mention different types of memories.
8. CCD stands for __________________________.
9. _________ is the brain of the computer.
10. ALU has three components. (True/False)
11. Mention any two output devices.
12. The ________ unit coordinates the activities of all the other units in the
system.
13. ______________ contains ports to connect all of the internal
components.

1.6 Summary
 Computer is an electronic device that accepts information as input from
the user, store information in memory, process the information and
generates the desired output results.
 A computer system consists of mainly four basic units, namely input
unit, memory unit, central processing unit and output unit. Central
Processing unit further includes arithmetic logic unit and control unit.
 Input unit is used for entering information into the computer system by
the user for processing.
 The CPU takes information from the storage unit performs operations
and then it is sent back to the memory unit. CPU includes Arithmetic
Logic Unit (ALU) and Control Unit (CU).
 Computer memory is the storage space in the computer. Computer
memory can be classified into two types: primary memory and
secondary memory.
 Controlling all operations like input, processing and output are
performed by control unit.
 Output unit receives information from the CPU and presents it to the
user in the desired form.
 Motherboard serves as a single platform to connect all the parts of a
computer together.
 All types of computers have certain common characteristics irrespective
of their type and size – accuracy, speed, reliability, storage, automation,
versatility and diligence.
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 Some of the commonly used input devices are mouse, keyboard, light
pen, touch screen, joy stick, scanner, optical character reader, magnetic
character reader, barcode reader, touchpad, track point, graphics tablet
and microphone.
 Some of the commonly used output devices are CRT monitor, flat panel
monitor, inkjet printer, laser printer and speakers.

1.7 Terminal Questions

1. What is a computer?
2. Explain the characteristics of computers.
3. What is arithmetic logic unit? How it is helpful in CPU?
4. Explain functions of input and output devices.
5. Explain motherboard.

1.8 Answers
Self Assessment Questions
1. Computer
2. Space research and Traffic signaling
3. Megahertz (MHz) or Giga hertz (GHz).
4. Versatility
5. Diligence
6. Input device
7. Cache memory, primary memory and secondary memory
8. Charge Coupled Devices
9. Central Processing Unit
10. False
11. Printer, monitor
12. Control
13. Motherboard
Terminal Questions
1. The term “Computer” is derived from the word “compute”. The word
compute means to calculate. Computer is an electronic device that
accepts information as input from the user, store information in
memory, process the information and generates the desired output
results. (Refer to section 1.2)

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Fundamentals of Information Technology Unit 1

2. All types of computers have certain common characteristics

irrespective of their type and size – accuracy, speed, reliability,
storage, automation, versatility and diligence. (Refer to section 1.3)
3. The ALU is an electronic circuit used to carry out the arithmetic
operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. The
logic unit of ALU performs logic functions such as AND, OR and NOT.
(Refer to section 1.5)
4. Functions of input unit
 The input unit gets the information from various input devices and
makes them available for processing to other units of computer.
 The input information is provided through input devices, such as –
mouse, keyboard, joystick, trackball, etc. Input information can
also be provided by scanning images, video recording, voice
recording, etc. (Refer to section 1.5)
Functions of output unit
 The output unit gets the processed information from the computer
and sends it to output device.
 The output information is provided through output devices like
display screen, printer, plotter and speaker. (Refer to section 1.5)
5. Motherboard serves as a single platform to connect all the parts of a
computer together. (Refer to section 1.5)

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