AP / IB Computer Science Summer Assignment Complete the following using your own paper as necessary. Answers may be hand written or typed, but they must be easy to read and use proper English grammar and spelling. 1. Download the book Blown to Bits. You can find it at http://www.bitsbook.com/wpcontent/uploads/2008/12/b2b_3.pdf or just Google Blown to Bits. This is a 22 MB download, so it may take a while. Be sure to save the book after you download it. The download is free. 2. Read the first 3 chapters of the book and then answer the following questions. Your answers should usually be in complete sentences unless asked to name, state, or identify. a. What is the natural unit of information? Who is credited with this discovery and how was this discovery announced? In what year did this occur? b. What is a Koan? c. The authors list seven Koans. Briefly describe each of these Koans. d. What does Exclusive and Rivalrous mean? e. What is Moore s Law? f. How many bits were created and stored away in 2007? Based on projections, when might we be producing more bits than we can store? g. What are Blacklists and Whitelists? h. Why do new technologies bring both risks and opportunities? i. Briefly summarize the section 1984 is here, and we like it. What particular technology has implemented Big Brother in the UK? j. How have digital cameras and the GPS system contributed to the big brother mentality? k. What is an RFID tag? Give one good and one not so good example of their use. l. What do the blobs on Figure 2.3 represent? Explain why we can draw this conclusion. m. How do web sites know who you are? What are the implications of this knowledge on personal privacy? n. Who is Little Brother? o. Interpret Harvard s email policy. p. How can metadata be used to track changes in documents? q. How is the painting Ceci n est pas une pipe. similar to an electronic document? r. Discuss the implications of data compression and several common compression models. What does it mean to be lossy? s. Discuss the differences between OpenDocument, Open Source, and Free. t. How can information be hidden in an image? u. What is cloud computing? v. What happens to the data when you delete a file? 3. Complete the Handshake, Fence Post, Six Toothpicks, 9 Dot, and Card Dealing problems. This assignment is due on Monday August 27, 2012 by 2:30. You may place it in my box in the main office. You may contact me by email at jeharris@vbschools.com or jharrison64@cox.net if you have questions or concerns. J.E. Harrison PAHS AP IB Computer Science Summer Assignment 2012 1
Handshake and Fence Post Problems 1. Handshake Problem #1: Assume there are 20 people in a room, including you. You must shake hands with everyone else in the room. How many hands will you shake? If there are N (where N > 0) people in the room, how many hands will you shake? 2. Fence Post Problem #1: You need to build one side of a fence that is 12 yards long. This fence will be built with fence posts and rails that connect one fence post to another. If each fence post is 1 yard away from the next fence post, how many fence posts will be needed for this side of the fence? How many fence posts will be needed for a side of a fence that is N (where N > 0) yards long? 3. Handshake Problem #2: Assume there are 10 people in a room, including you. Each person in the room must shake hands one time, and only time, with all the other people in the room. How many handshakes will occur? If there are 20 people in the room, how many handshakes will occur? If there are N (where N > 0) people in the room, how many handshakes will occur? 4. Fence Post Problem #2: You need to build a fence around a rectangular field. The field is 50 meters wide and 100 meters long. If the fence posts are 1 meter apart, how many fence posts will you need for this field? How many fence posts will be needed for a fence that is w (where w > 0) meters wide and l (where l > 0) meters long if the posts are 1 meter apart? 5. Fence Post Problem Extension: Suppose the fence posts were 2 meters apart in problem 4. How would that change your specific answer to the 50 m by 100 m field problem? What concerns would you have if the fence posts were 2 m apart? Fence boards usually come in 8 ft., 10 ft. or12 ft. lengths. How would using a 12 ft. board (fence posts separated by 12 ft.) affect your answer to #4 and the general solution? J.E. Harrison PAHS AP IB Computer Science Summer Assignment 2012 2
Six Toothpick Problem You have six toothpicks of equal length. Your goal is to create 4 equilateral triangles using only these six toothpicks. Each triangle must have a side length equal to one toothpick. Sketch your solution in the space on this page, or take a picture of your creation and paste it on the page. J.E. Harrison PAHS AP IB Computer Science Summer Assignment 2012 3
Nine Dot Problem Draw a continuous series of line segments connecting the nine dots below. Each segment of the line must be a straight line. You may not lift your pencil off the paper or retrace any lines. Your line segments may cross other segments. J.E. Harrison PAHS AP IB Computer Science Summer Assignment 2012 4
Ten Card Dealing Problem You have 10 playing cards Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 (or 10 pieces of paper with these numbers on them). The cards are placed in a deck face down. The goal of this exercise is to determine which order to stack the cards so they will be dealt out in order Ace through 10. The cards are dealt as follows: The top card is dealt face up. This should be the Ace. The next card is dealt to the bottom of the deck. It should stay face down. The next card is dealt face up on top of the Ace. This should be the two. The next card is dealt face down to the bottom of the deck. Continue dealing in this fashion until all cards have been dealt in order. What is the order of your deck to achieve the desired results? J.E. Harrison PAHS AP IB Computer Science Summer Assignment 2012 5