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M150
Mathematics and Computing: Level 1 M150 Data, computing and information
M150 AB1
Assignment Booklet 1
Contents TMA M150 01
2006J
Cut-off date 14 November 2006
This assignment should be submitted via the Electronic TMA (eTMA) system. You should write your solutions to the questions in a single wordprocessed document, which is named using your OUCU (e.g. tst99) as follows: tst99_TMA01 Head the document with your name, the number of the TMA (as given above) and your Personal Identifier. You do not need to include any other forms with your document. Submit your document as a zip file to the eTMA system on or preferably before the cut-off date shown above. You will find details on how to create a zip archive file in the Guide to Electronic Tuition. You will find details on how to submit a zip archive file to the eTMA system in Using the Electronic TMA System – A Guide to eTMAs for Students. Your tutor will mark your script and return it to you via the eTMA system. Your mark for the TMA will be automatically recorded by the eTMA system. TMA 01 assesses your work on Units 1, 2 and 3 of M150. The marks allocated to each part of a question are indicated in the margin. The total marks for each question are shown at the beginning of each question.
Copyright © 2006 The Open University 6.1
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Important notes
Plagiarism When you are asked to comment or explain, present your work clearly. If when answering a question you do not do so using your own words but quote directly from the course texts (or any other source), then you should reference the original source. Failure to do this is plagiarism. One way of citing the original source is to place a number after the quoted text. At the end of the TMA you would then list the reference. For example, you might have inserted the text: ‘The Internet will grow by a factor of three over the next ten years’ [2] in one of your TMA answers. You would then write at the end of the TMA [2] Website ‘Internet facts and figures’ http://internetfacts.com (accessed 1 May 2005) if you were citing from a website, or [2] An Introduction to the internet, W. Robinson, Penguin Books, 2000 if you were citing a book. Note that citation numbers should be sequential and start at 1. This means that the citation above would be the second citation in your TMA. Note also that the web address we used (http://internetfacts.com) is the unique address of the website, and can be found near the top of the browser window. In line with OU regulations, steps will be taken to ensure that the work you have submitted as this TMA is your own. This may include a sampling process to check that your work has not been copied from another student or from external sources such as the internet. Plagiarism will be severely dealt with by the University. CMEs As CME 01 contains questions on Units 1 and 2 and CME 02 contains questions on Unit 3, you may find it useful to attempt these CMEs before starting working on TMA 01. Note that the complete set of CMEs (i.e. CMEs 01–04) also provide specimen questions for CMA 41 which you will do at the end of the course as the final piece of course assessment.
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TMA M150 01
Question 1
Cut-off date 14 November 2006
[34 marks]
You should be able to answer part (i) of this question once you have read the material in the Study Calendar, Course Companion and Course Guide, and accessed the course website. Part (ii) assesses your ability to use a search engine to retrieve relevant information and re-present the information in a concise manner. These topics are covered in Unit 1. (i) (a) Name three elements of the course materials that will be distributed to you via the M150 course website. [3]
(b) What is the role of the Study Calendar? What is the cut-off date for TMA 05? [2] (c) Assume that you attain the following marks during your study of M150: • 42% as the average weighted mark for the five TMAs plus the CMA • 47% for the CMA • 38% for the final TMA. Would you pass the course? Explain. [4] (d) Locate the learning outcomes for M150 which are listed both in the Course Companion and in the Course Guide. These tell you what you should be able to do after studying the course. Write down the learning outcome that you feel you are most interested in achieving, and write one or two sentences to describe why you have chosen that learning outcome. [3] (e) Who should you contact with queries about course software? [2] (f) There is no extension possible for CMA 41. If you feel there are exceptional circumstances why you cannot complete and post or upload the CMA to arrive in Milton Keynes by the cut-off date what should you do? What might be an exceptional circumstance? (Hint: you might find the Assessment Handbook useful.) [2] (ii) Read the whole question before beginning to do the tasks. (a) Use a search engine to find out when Alan Turing was born and his contribution to computer science. As your answer to this question give: • the name of the search engine used • the search terms you entered • the reference to the website you considered most appropriate • the year of his birth • his importance to computer science. [8]
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(b) What is the Turing Test and what is it used for? In your answer include an appropriate, properly referenced, excerpt from your chosen website. [6] (c) The results of a weather station are stored on a computer. They are presented as a bar chart showing rainfall for the months of the year. Is the bar chart an example of data or a representation of information? Explain your answer. [4]
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Question 2
[33 marks]
This question assesses your knowledge of representation systems including the correct use of the terminology from Unit 2. It also assesses your ability to choose such a representation and justify your choice. The key skills 'communicating with others via an e-mail conference' and 'writing a short paragraph on a technical subject' are also assessed. About two weeks before the cut-off date for this TMA, a posting will be made to your tutor group conference entitled ‘TMA 01 question 2’. The body of the posting will contain the following message: The compiler of a printed catalogue of music CDs wants to present the following information about the various CDs in the catalogue in a 'view at a glance format': • Price indication • Genre (Classical, Rock, Pop, Country etc.) • Mood (Soothing, Sentimental, Dance etc.) • Result of reviews • Number of tracks on the CD • Playing time With the other students in your tutor group conference, using the posting described above as the starting point for a discussion, define a representation system to present this information in the catalogue. You will need to make at least two postings to the conference. You will also need to make appropriate use of threads when posting to the conference. Each posting must only contain one point furthering the discussion and you need to justify each point you make. You do not need to produce drawings for your symbols. A description will be sufficient. Your group discussion will need to cover at least the following points: • • • the potential users of the representation system the list of symbols you will use whether you need a complex representation system.
Include the text for two of the postings you made to the conference in your TMA. Please observe the following guidelines: • • • Choose those postings where you felt you made your greatest contribution to the discussion. One posting should make a new point and one posting should respond to a point and further the discussion. One posting should concern either potential users or the form of the representation.
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•
Where you are responding to a point made by another student you must include a copy of the relevant part of that student's posting and their name (just as you would cite a reference to any other materials). Your copies should include the full context of the message ('from', 'to', 'date', etc.), not just the text. In FirstClass conferencing you can include the text of the posting to which you are responding by selecting: Message/Reply Special/Reply with Quote
The easiest way to send in your two postings is to carry out the following three steps: 1 Using the FirstClass client (not the web interface), select your two messages in the conference listing of messages (hold down the Ctrl key and click on each message in turn). 2 Then click on Message>Summarise Selected. The content of the messages will be displayed on the screen. Then click on File>Save As and save your message in a folder where you will be able to find it again. The message will be saved in .txt format. When you come to write your TMA answer in your word processor, use Insert/File..., go to where you saved the file of the messages and then just paste them. • Good use of conferencing techniques including good netiquette and use of threads. [10] • Making a single point and justifying that point. • The clarity of your justification. • The correct use of the terminology introduced in Unit 2. • Your contribution to the discussion. [10] [6] [3] [4]
3
You will be assessed on the following:
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Question 3
This question is mainly about topics covered in Unit 3.
[33 marks]
Part (i) of this question tests your understanding of the difference between the computer’s world and our own, and how that boundary can be crossed. Part (ii) assesses your understanding of how data is represented inside the computer, and how numbers can be written in different bases. Part (iii) tests your understanding of how digital information stored in the computer can be brought back into our world again. All three parts also test your understanding of terminology introduced in the unit. (i) (a) Drawing on your own experience, give one example of an analogue quantity and one example of a discrete quantity, briefly explaining how you can tell which is which. [6] (b) Name two ways of capturing text and turning it into digital form inside the computer. [2] (c) Give one example of a computer standard mentioned in Unit 3, saying what the standard is used for, and explain why standards are needed in computing. You may also like to refer to the discussion of standards in Unit 2. Your answer should not be longer than 60 words in total. [4] (ii) (a) The following table shows the value of each column in a byte (which as you know is an 8-bit binary number). bit 8 128 bit 7 64 bit 6 32 bit 5 16 bit 4 8 bit 3 4 bit 2 2 bit 1 1
We can use a table like this to convert from binary to decimal. For example to convert 1010 1010 binary to decimal we could set the working out like this. 1x128 + 0x64 + 1x32 + 0x16 + 1x8 + 0x4 + 1x2 + 0x1 = 128 + 32 + 8 + 2 = 170 Use this method to convert 1101 1011 to decimal, showing all your working as in the example above. The correct result without any working will receive only 1 mark. [4] (b) Before you tackle this question you will find it useful to have done Exercise 3.8 from the CD, which deals with the hexadecimal (base sixteen) number system. Explain how you can convert hexadecimal 29F to decimal and say what the result is. Note that the result on its own will only score 1 mark. [3]
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(c) The unit discusses the need for data compression. Say briefly – in one or two sentences – why data compression is needed, and give an example of a compression method used for sound files. [3] (iii) (a) What do we mean when we speak of the resolution of a monitor?
[2]
(b) There are two main types of monitor: cathode ray tube and liquid crystal display. List the main advantages and disadvantages of each type. [4] (c) Imagine the following series of binary digits is a digital representation stored in the memory of a computer. 1110 0000 1110 11010 0101 1110 … (i) Does this have any meaning on its own? [1] (ii) Describe briefly how a digital representation such as the one above could be brought back again into the human world and its meaning regained. Your answer should not exceed 150 words. [4]
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