A-Level Computer Science (9618)

Work sheet No: 1

Topic:Information representation Student Name:_____________
Date:---------------------------

1 (a) Each of the following bytes represents an integer in two’s complement form.

State the denary value.

(i) 0111 0111 Denary .................................................. [1]

(ii) 1000 1000 Denary .................................................. [1]

(iii) Express the following integer in two’s complement form.

-17

[1]

(iv) State in denary, the range of integer values that it is possible to represent in two’s
complement integers using a single byte.

Lowest value ..................................................

Highest value .................................................. [1]

(b) (i) Convert the following denary integer into Binary Coded Decimal (BCD).

653

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(ii) A 3-digit BCD representation has been incorrectly copied. It is shown as:

0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0

State how you can recognise that this is not a valid BCD representation.

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(iii) Describe a practical application where BCD is used.

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Compiled by: Mr. Fazal-e-Malik Ph:0333 4732544 Page-1

 Ans-1
Question Answer Marks

1(a)(i) 119 1

1(a)(ii) –120 1

1(a)(iii) 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1

1(a)(iv) Lowest value: −128 1

Highest value: +127

1(b)(i) 0110 0101 0011 1

1(b)(ii) The second block of four binary digits represents a digit larger than 9 // 14 1

1(b)(iii) A string of digits on any electronic device displaying numeric values 1

2 A logo is designed as a bitmap image.

(a) Describe what is meant by a bitmap image.

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(b) A black and white bitmap image is shown.

(i) Explain how a computer can store this bitmap image.

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(ii) The image is compressed before it is attached to an email.

Explain how run-length encoding (RLE) will compress the image.

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(c) The finished logo is 500 pixels by 1000 pixels and uses 35 different colours.

Estimate the file size for the logo. Give your answer in kilobytes. Show your working.

Working .....................................................................................................................................

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Answer ......................................................................................................................................
[4]

(d) The logo is redesigned as a vector graphic.

State two benefits of a vector graphic compared to a bitmap image. Give a reason for each
benefit.

Benefit 1 ...................................................................................................................................

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Reason 1 ..................................................................................................................................

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Benefit 2 ...................................................................................................................................

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Reason 2 ..................................................................................................................................

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 Ans-2
Question Answer Marks

2(a) 1 mark per bullet, max 2 2

• Made up of pixels
• Each pixel has one colour
• Colour of each pixel stored as a binary number

2(b)(i) 1 mark per bullet, max 2 2

• Each pixel requires only one bit (as there are only two colours)
• Black represented by 1 and white by 0 (or vice versa)
• Bits are stored for each pixel in sequence
• 11111 01010 01010 01010 01010

2(b)(ii) 1 mark for the explanation 2

• Stores the colour and the number of times it occurs

1 mark for example from

• An example from the bitmap given e.g. B5, W1, B1 and so on

2(c) 1 mark per bullet 4

• Number of pixels 500*1000 (= 500 000)
• 35 colours require 6 bits per pixel
• Number of bytes (500 000 * 6) / 8 = 3 000 000 / 8 (= 375 000)
• = 375 Kb

Question Answer Marks

2(d) 1 mark per bullet to max 2 marks per benefit 4

• Can resize it without pixilation
• Image is redrawn/recalculated with each adjustment
• Smaller file size
• Storing points/equations/commands etc., not individual pixels
3 (a) The Accumulator is a register. The current contents of the Accumulator are:

1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1

The current contents of the Accumulator represent an unsigned binary integer.

(i) Convert the value in the Accumulator into denary.

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(ii) Convert the value in the Accumulator into hexadecimal.

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(iii) The current contents of the Accumulator represent a two’s complement binary integer.

Convert the value in the Accumulator into denary.

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(b) The binary integer represents a character from the computer’s character set.

(i) Define the term character set.

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(ii) Explain the differences between the ASCII and Unicode character sets.

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(iii) The ASCII code for ‘A’ is 41 in hexadecimal.

Calculate the ASCII code in hexadecimal for ‘Z’. Show your working.

Working .............................................................................................................................

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ASCII code in hexadecimal for ‘Z’ .....................................................................................

[2]

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 Ans-3

Question Answer Marks

4(a)(i) 219 1

4(a)(ii) DB 1

4(a)(iii) −37 1

4(b)(i) 1 mark from: 1

• The symbols that the computer recognises/uses

• A list of characters recognised by the computer hardware and
software

Question Answer Marks

4(b)(ii) 1 mark per bullet to max 2 2

• UNICODE has greater range of characters than ASCII

• UNICODE represents most written languages in the world while ASCII
does not ASCII used for English only
• ASCII uses 7 or 8 bits or one byte whereas UNICODE uses up to 4
bytes per character
• UNICODE is standardised while ASCII is not

4(b)(iii) 1 mark for correct working, 1 mark for correct answer 2

Working:

Code for Z = Code for A + 2510

Code for Z = 4116 +2510
Code for Z = 4116 + 1916
Code for Z = 5A16

Answer: 5A16
4 A student has recorded a sound track for a short film.

(a) Explain how an analogue sound wave is sampled to convert it into digital format.

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(b) Explain the effects of increasing the sampling resolution on the sound file.

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(c) The original sound was sampled at 44.1 kHz. The sample rate is changed to 22.05 kHz.

Explain the effects of this change on the sound file.

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(d) The student uses sound editing software to edit the sound file.

Name two features of sound editing software the student can use to edit the sound file.

Describe the purpose of each feature.

Feature 1 ...................................................................................................................................

Purpose .....................................................................................................................................

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Feature 2 ...................................................................................................................................

Purpose .....................................................................................................................................

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[4]
 Ans-4

Question Answer Marks

5(a) 1 mark per bullet to max 3 3

• Amplitude (of the sound wave) measured

• At set / regular time intervals / per time unit / time period
• Value of the sample is recorded as a binary number

5(b) 1 mark per bullet to max 2 2

• (Increasing the sampling resolution means) more bits per sample //

larger range of values
• Larger file size
• More accurate representation of sound

5(c) 1 mark per bullet to max 3 3

• Fewer samples (per unit time)

• File size will decrease
• Larger gaps / spaces between samples // Greater quantization errors
• Sound accuracy will reduce // not as close to original sound

Question Answerr Mark

ks

5(d) 1 mark forr naming fea

ature/tool, 1 mark for description.
d Max 2 feattures 4
e.g.
• Fading
• Change
C the volume
v of a section of the sound for
f it get louuder/quieterr

• Removing so
R ound / elem
ments
• D
Delete sectio ound wave, for example, backgroound noise
ons of the so

• Copy
C
• R
Repeat ments of the sound wav
elem ve
5 A student is creating a short video and needs to record music to play in the background.

(a) The student uses a microphone to capture the music.

Explain how the microphone captures the music.

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(b) An analogue-to-digital converter uses sampling to encode the sound.

Explain how different sampling resolutions affect the sound file and the sound it represents.

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(c) The student needs to edit the sound file.

Describe two features of sound editing software that can be used to edit the sound file.

Feature 1 ..................................................................................................................................

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Feature 2 ..................................................................................................................................

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[4]

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 Ans-5
Question Answer Marks

1(a) 1 mark per bullet point to max 3 3

• The microphone has a diaphragm

• The incoming sound waves cause vibrations
• « causing a coil to move past a magnet (dynamic microphone) //
changing the capacitance (condenser microphone)
• An electric current is generated / changed

1(b) 1 mark per bullet point 3

• The sampling resolution number of bits used to store each sample

• Increasing the (sampling) resolution means a larger file size //
Decreasing the (sampling) resolution means a smaller file size
• Increasing the (sampling) resolution gives a more accurate
representation of the analogue sound // Decreasing the (sampling)
resolution gives a less accurate representation of the analogue sound
• Increasing the (sampling) resolution means a greater range of values
can be stored // Decreasing the (sampling) resolution gives a smaller
range of values that can be stored
• Increasing the (sampling) resolution reduces the quantization errors //
Decreasing the (sampling) resolution causes greater quantization errors

1(c) For 2 features 4

1 mark for identifying feature, 1 mark for describing what it does.

For example:

• Cut/delete
• ... Remove part of the sound file

• Copy and paste

• ... Replicate part of the sound

• Amplify
• ... Increase the volume of a section of sound

© UCLES 2018 Page 3 of 10

6 A company is designing a website.

(a) The company creates a 4-colour bitmap image for the website as shown.

Each colour is represented by a letter, for example, G = grey, K = black.

G R G K W R

G R G K W R

G R G K W R

G R G K W R

G G G K K R

W W W W K R

(i) State the minimum number of bits needed to represent each pixel in the image in part (a).

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(ii) Calculate the minimum file size of the image shown in part (a). Show your working.

Working .............................................................................................................................

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File size .............................................................................................................................

[3]

(b) The company takes a photograph of their office to put on the website. The photograph has
a resolution of 1000 pixels by 1000 pixels. Two bytes per pixel are used to represent the
colours.

(i) Estimate the file size of the photograph in megabytes. Show your working.

Working .............................................................................................................................

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Estimated file size .............................................................................................................

[4]

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 (ii) The file size of the photograph needs to be reduced before it is placed on the website.

Draw lines to link each method of reducing the file size of the image to:

• its description and

• its compression type, where appropriate.

Description Method Compression type

Removes pixels
Crop the
photograph
Reduces number of
Lossy
pixels per inch
Use run-length
encoding
Uses fewer bits per
Lossless
pixel
Use fewer
colours
Stores colour code and
count of repetitions

[5]

(c) The company has created a logo for the website. The logo is a vector graphic.

Describe two reasons why a vector graphic is a sensible choice for the logo.

Reason 1 ..................................................................................................................................

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Reason 2 ..................................................................................................................................

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 Ans-6
Question Answer Marks

1(a)(i) 2 1

1(a)(ii) 1 mark per bullet point 3

• Number of pixels: 6 × 6 // 36
• Number of bits: Number of pixels (36) × 2
• = 72 bits // 9 bytes

1(b)(i) 1 mark per bullet point 4

• Number of pixels: 1000 × 1000 // 1 000 000

• Number of bytes: Number of pixels (1 000 000) × 2 // 2 000 000 //
Number of bits: Number of pixels (1 000 000) × 16 // 16 000 000
• Conversion to megabytes
• 2 (MB) // 1.91 (MB)

1(b)(ii) 1 mark per method correctly linked to its description max 3 5

1 mark for each compression type correctly linked to its method(s). max 2

Description Method Compression type

1(c) 1 mark per bullet point. Max 2 marks for each reason. 4

• Smaller file size

• Can be transferred quicker/downloaded quicker

• Enlarges without pixilation

• Needs to be used on different screens / devices / resolutions
7 (a) A sound track is recorded for the video.

(i) Describe how a computer encodes the sound track.

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(ii) Explain how the sampling rate and sampling resolution affect the file size of the sound
track.

Sampling rate ....................................................................................................................

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Sampling resolution ...........................................................................................................

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[2]
(b) A recording of a concert is stored as a file. The file is compressed using lossy compression
before it is streamed to users.

(i) State why this file needs to be compressed.

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(ii) Define the term lossy compression.

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(iii) The file could be compressed using lossless compression.

Explain why lossy compression is a more appropriate compression technique than

lossless for this file.

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 Ans-7
6(d)(i) 1 mark per bullet point to max 3 3

• The amplitude of the wave is measured /sound wave is sampled

• At set/regular time intervals
• Each sample is stored as a binary number
• Samples are stored in order in a file

6(d)(ii) 1 mark per bullet point to max 1 for each 2

Sample rate:
• Increasing the sample rate means more samples per second hence
more bits per second and larger file size
• Decreasing the sample rate means fewer samples per second hence
fewer bits per second and smaller file size

Sample resolution:
• A higher sampling resolution means more bits per sample and a larger
file size
• A lower sampling resolution means fewer bits per sample. a smaller file
size

1(d)(i) 1 mark per bullet point to max 1 1

• The data files are very large

• It would take a long time to send the uncompressed file // Compressed
files will download faster
• A higher bandwidth would be needed to transmit the uncompressed file

1(d)(ii) 1 mark per bullet point to max 1 1

• Data is lost
• The decompressed file is not the same as the original

1(d)(iii) 1 mark per bullet point to max 3 3

• Lossy creates a smaller file than lossless // lossy compresses further

than lossless
• The recording of the concert is a large file size and needs significant
reduction in size
• Lossy removes detail which can be lost without people noticing
• By example e.g. reduction in sound quality will not be noticed
8 (b) The ASCII character code for ‘A’ is 65 in denary.

(i) Convert the denary ASCII character code for ‘A’ into 8-bit binary.

[1]

(ii) Convert the denary ASCII character code for ‘A’ into hexadecimal.

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(iii) The Unicode character code for ‘G’ is 0047 in hexadecimal.

State, in hexadecimal, the Unicode character code for ‘D’.

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Ans-8
Question Answer Marks

3(d)(i) 1 mark for correct answer 1

0100 0001

3(d)(ii) 1 mark for correct answer 1

41

3(d)(iii) 1 mark for correct answer 1

0044

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9 A computer uses the ASCII character set.

(a) State the number of characters that can be represented by the ASCII character set and the
extended ASCII character set.

ASCII ...........................................................

Extended ASCII ...........................................................

[2]

(b) Explain how a word such as ‘HOUSE’ is represented by the ASCII character set.

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(c) Unicode is a different character set.

The Unicode value for the character ‘1’ is denary value 49.

(i) Write the hexadecimal value for the Unicode character ‘1’.

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(ii) Write the denary value for the Unicode character ‘5’.

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Ans-9

Question Answer Marks

6(a) 1 mark for each correct answer 2

ASCII = 128 // 27

Extended ASCII = 256 // 28

6(b) 1 mark per bullet point to max 2 2

• Each character has its own unique code

• Each character in the word is replaced by its code
• The codes are stored in the order in the word

6(c)(i) 31 1

6(c)(ii) 53 1
10 A register stores the following binary number:

1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1

(a) The binary value in the register represents an unsigned binary integer.

Convert the unsigned binary integer into denary.

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(b) The binary value in the register represents a two’s complement binary integer.

Convert the two’s complement binary integer into denary.

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(c) The binary value in the register represents a hexadecimal number.

Convert the binary number into hexadecimal.

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(d) State why the value in the register cannot be interpreted as a Binary Coded Decimal (BCD).

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(e) The binary contents of two registers are:

Register 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 1

Register 2 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1

(i) Add the contents of Register 1 and Register 2. Show your working.

Answer ..............................................................................................................................
[2]
(ii) Subtract the contents of Register 2 from the contents of Register 1. Show your working.

Answer ..............................................................................................................................
[2]
 Ans-10
Question Answer Marks

4(a) 205 1

4(b) – 51 1

4(c) CD 1

4(d) 1 mark for: 1

The denary value in each group of 4 bits is greater than 9

// the denary value in each nibble is greater than 9

4(e)(i) 1 mark for working, 1 mark for answer 2

0011 1101
+0010 1101
0110 1010
111 1 1

4(e)(ii) 1 mark for working, 1 mark for answer 2

0011 1101
+1101 0011 (two’s complement)
0001 0000
1111 111