All posts by Mr Stratton

Computing teacher and a PT at Coltness High School.

Calculations in computer systems

I was sure I had this here already but I can’t find it.

Here are the main formula we used in the computer systems unit

  • Largest number with n bits = 2n-1
  • No of memory locations/different colours = 2n
  • Coloumn heading in a binary number at n bit =2n-1
  • Size of bitmap = no. of Horizontal pixels X no. of Vertical pixels X Colour Depth
  • No. of pixels = DPI X size in inches
  • Total storage capacity = no. of memory locations X location size.

You should also be able to convert from bits, Bytes, Kilobytes, Megabytes, Gigabytes & Terabytes.

  • Bit= 1/0 (Binary digIT)
  • 1 Byte = 8 Bits
  • 1 Kilobytes= 1024 Bytes  (210)
  • 1 Megabytes= 1024 KB  (220)
  • 1 Gigabytes = 1024 MB  (230)
  • 1 Terabytes = 1024 GB  (240)

For colour depth

  • 8 bits = 256 colours (28)
  • 16 bits = High Colour 65,536 colours (216)
  • 24 bits = True Colour 16,777,216 colours (224)

Control Unit

O was asked this question today and I can’t help but feel that the pupil wasn’t happy with the answer. So here I go again.

The Control Unit is a sub part of the processor (along with ALU & Registers). It is responsible for the sequencing, decoding and it also synchronizes the execution of the program instructions.

I am not sure that you will be happy with this description so I went to find some support notes and an animation ( I even found it in scratch) to help you to visualise it.

I did find this video though that covers a range of topics.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/HEjPop-aK_w" width="425" height="344" allowfullscreen="true" fvars="fs=1" /]

So to sum up, the Control Unit, controls all operations of the CPU, It also controls the flow of data along the buses.

Revision Topics

Advantages/disadvantages of pseudocode
Binary Numbers
Buffers
Calculation of image storage requirements
Calculation of memory sizes
Comparison of computer systems
Comparison of storage devices
Computer careers
Declarative languages – features
Design Notations
Factors affecting Internet Speed
Floating point notation
Global Variables
Local Variables
Modular programming
Module Libraries
Parameter passing by Value and by Reference
Printer interfaces
Printer Spoolers
Program Data types
Scripting Languages
Servers
Software Characteristics
Software compatibility issues
Software Documentation
Software Evaluation
Software Reliability
Standard Algorithms
String Operations
Technical characteristics of printers
Two’s Complement
Types of Documentation
Types of maintenance
Vector/Bit mapped graphics