Analytical Engine — Questions and answers
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Why did Babbage want to invent a new machine after the Difference Engine?
Choices
- The Difference Engine was too small to use.
- He wanted to make a machine that could cook dinner.
- The Difference Engine could only solve one kind of math problem. ✓
- He ran out of parts to build more Difference Engines.
Answer: The Difference Engine could only solve one kind of math problem.
From page 3
What are the three main parts Babbage imagined for his Analytical Engine?
Choices
- A door, a window, and a roof.
- A Store, a Mill, and a Control unit. ✓
- A pen, paper, and an inkwell.
- A bell, a whistle, and a clock.
Answer: A Store, a Mill, and a Control unit.
From page 4
How did Babbage plan to tell his Analytical Engine what to do?
Choices
- By shouting instructions at it.
- By using special punch cards with holes. ✓
- By giving it a book to read.
- By drawing pictures on a blackboard.
Answer: By using special punch cards with holes.
From page 5
What job did the 'Control' unit have in Babbage's Analytical Engine?
Choices
- To clean the gears and make them shiny.
- To hold the numbers like a memory.
- To direct numbers and operations between the 'Store' and the 'Mill'. ✓
- To make loud ticking sounds while it worked.
Answer: To direct numbers and operations between the 'Store' and the 'Mill'.
From page 7
What special ability did 'conditional branching' give the Analytical Engine?
Choices
- It could change its colors to match the room.
- It could decide what to do next based on the numbers it was working with. ✓
- It could make itself bigger or smaller.
- It could sing songs to the people watching it.
Answer: It could decide what to do next based on the numbers it was working with.
From page 8
What important thing did Ada Lovelace create for the Analytical Engine?
Choices
- The first blueprint for the 'Mill' unit.
- The world's first computer program or algorithm. ✓
- A new type of punch card material.
- A way to make the machine play music.
Answer: The world's first computer program or algorithm.
From page 9
Why was the Analytical Engine never completely built during Babbage and Lovelace's lives?
Choices
- They decided it was not a good idea after all.
- They ran out of paper for the blueprints.
- There were engineering problems, a desire for improvements, and not enough money. ✓
- It was too big to fit in any building.
Answer: There were engineering problems, a desire for improvements, and not enough money.
From page 10