2.1.
4 Representation Of Data In A Computer System
Mark Scheme
Q1a.
I. A single digit in a binary number.
II. A group of four bits.
III. 8 bits in a byte. You may or may not want to have a class discussion about this, and say that
technically, any group of bits is a byte but that it is almost always considered to be 8 bits
these days.
(1 mark per point up to a maximum of 3 marks.)
Q1b. Possible answers:
- 40 Megabytes.
(Maximum 1 mark.)
Q1c. Accept answers with or without spaces.
I. 2 000 000 bytes.
II. 5 000 000 000 000 bytes.
III. 22 000 000 000 bytes.
IV. 14 000 bytes.
(1 mark for each of the last three answers (not the first one – the answer to that one was given on
the exam paper as an example. Maximum of 3 marks.)
Q2.
- Minimum is 0000 and this represents 0 (1 mark.)
- Maximum is 1111 (1 mark.)
- and this represents 15 (1 mark.)
(Maximum of 3 marks.)
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Q3.
(a) 0010 0000 (1 mark for showing 8 bits and 1 mark for the correct answer.)
(b) 0110 1000 (1 mark for showing 8 bits and 1 mark for the correct answer.)
(c)
0010 0000
0110 1000
-------------
1000 1000
(1 mark for the working and 1 mark for the correct answer.)
Q4. EA = (14 * 16) + (10 * 1) = 234
(1 mark for the working and 1 mark for the correct answer.)
Q5.
- 75 in binary is 0100 1011 (1 mark.)
- The first nibble is 0100 = 4 (1 mark) and
- The second nibble is 1011 = 11 in decimal or B in hex (1 mark.)
- So the final answer in hex is 4B16 (1 mark.)
Q6a. Possible answers:
- A computer is made up of billions of switches.
- A switch can have only two positions, 1 and 0.
- You need to group switches together.
- So you can create lots of unique codes made up of 1s and 0s.
- Each code than then be assigned to a character.
(1 mark per point up to a maximum of 3 marks.)
Q6b. Possible answers:
- The set of all characters.
- Which can be represented on a computer.
- At any one time.
(1 mark per point up to a maximum of 2 marks.)
Note: some definitions just have to be learnt using the British Computer Society’s glossary.
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Q6c. Possible answers:
- Each one of the 8 bits has two possible positions, 1 and 0.
- 8 bits give a total of 2 to the power of 8 permutations
- The answer is 256 characters.
(1 mark per point up to a maximum of 2 marks.)
Q7. Possible answers:
- Each pixel.
- Requires 16 bits if the colour depth is 16.
- And 8 bits if the colour depth is 8.
- Since the pictures are the same size.
- The picture with a colour depth of 16 will have a file size that is twice as large as the picture
with a colour depth of 8.
(1 mark per point up to a maximum of 4 marks.)
Q8. Possible answers:
- The word used to describe how clear text and graphics appear on a VDU.
- It is the word used to describe the number of pixels used.
- In a fixed area / unit area.
- The more pixels in an area, the higher the resolution.
- And therefore the more detailed something appears on a screen.
(1 mark per point up to a maximum of 3 marks.)
Q9a. Possible answers:
- A code for an operation or instruction.
- That is easily remembered.
- E.g. SUB is a mnemonic for subtract (or any other example).
(1 mark per point up to a maximum of 2 marks.)
Q9b. Possible answers:
- (i) Operator: An instruction e.g. LDA, SUB, STR, ADD, NOP etc.
- (ii) Operand: The data or address of data which you want to work on e.g. 2000, 3000 etc.
(1 mark per correct description with an additional mark for a correct example. Maximum 4 marks.)
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