Crash Course Computer Science: Alan Turing and the Foundations of Computer Science

Who is considered the father of computer science?

• Charles Babbage

• Alan Turing

• Alonzo Church

• John von Neumann

What problem did Alan Turing set out to solve as a master's student?

• Goldbach's Conjecture

• P vs NP Problem

• Riemann Hypothesis

• Entscheidungsproblem

Which mathematical system did Alonzo Church develop to address the Entscheidungsproblem?

• Graph Theory

• Set Theory

• Boolean Algebra

• Lambda Calculus

What is the primary function of the read/write head in a Turing Machine?

• To store symbols

• To read and write symbols on the tape

• To change the state of the machine

• To move the tape

What does a Turing Machine use to hold information about its current state?

• Memory tape

• Read/write head

• State variable

• Set of rules

In the example provided, what does the Turing Machine write to the tape if there is an even number of ones?

• 3

• 0

• 1

• 2

What does it mean for a computer to be Turing complete?

• It can solve any problem in polynomial time

• It can perform any computation given enough time and memory

• It is faster than any other computer

• It can only perform simple calculations

What is the Halting Problem?

• Determining if a Turing Machine will halt or run forever

• Finding the shortest path in a graph

• Calculating the factorial of a number

• Solving a system of linear equations

What was the name of the special-purpose electromechanical computer Turing designed to break the Enigma code?

• Zuse

• Colossus

• Bombe

• ENIAC

What key flaw did Turing exploit in the Enigma machine to help break its code?

• The machine's settings were shared on social media

• A letter would never be encoded as itself

• The machine had a fixed number of settings

• The machine used a simple substitution cipher