Pentathlon 2024 - Sections 1 and 2

Who proposed the mechanical computer known as the Difference Engine?

• Alan Turing

• John Mauchly

• Charles Babbage

• John von Neumann

What was the main purpose of the Analytical Engine as designed by Charles Babbage?

• To perform basic arithmetic operations

• To solve polynomial functions

• To be a general-purpose computer capable of performing any algorithm

• To calculate ballistic firing tables

What is an algorithm?

• A mechanical calculator

• A theoretical model of computing

• A precise, step-by-step list of instructions for accomplishing a given task

• An early electronic computer

What is a Turing Machine?

• An early form of mechanical calculator

• A theoretical model of computing with memory, programmability, and conditional branching

• An electronic computer designed by John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert

• A computer architecture where instructions and data are stored in memory

Which device was used by human computers at Aberdeen Proving Ground to calculate ballistic firing tables before ENIAC?

• Analytical Engine

• Differential Analyzer

• Turing Machine

• Atanasoff-Berry Computer

What was the ENIAC?

• The first mechanical computer

• The first electronic computer to solve polynomial functions

• The first general-purpose programmable electronic computer

• The first computer designed with von Neumann architecture

What does the von Neumann architecture refer to?

• A mechanical calculating machine

• A theoretical model of computing

• A stored program computer design where instructions and data are stored in the computer's memory

• An early form of mechanical calculator

Who popularized the design of the von Neumann architecture in an influential report written in 1945?

• Eckert and Mauchly

• John von Neumann

• IBM

• Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation

What was the BINAC?

• A programming language

• A vacuum tube

• An early electronic computer

• A type of integrated circuit

What component used in early electronic computers was replaced by the transistor?

• Microchip

• Magnetic drum memory

• Core memory

• Vacuum tube