, Multiple-choice Questions
For each of the following questions, choose the letter of the one best response.
Chapter 1
The two principal catalysts for the Information Age have been
a) books and pamphlets.
b) computers and communication networks. <
c) radio and television.
d) newspapers and magazines.
e) telephones and television networks.
Which statement best supports the conclusion that society can control whether to adopt a new
technology?
a) No new nuclear power plants were built in the United States for 25 years after the accident
at Three Mile Island. <
b) About half of all email messages are spam.
c) Despite decades of research, fusion power is an elusive goal.
d) People do not have to listen to Rush Limbaugh if they do not want to.
e) Some new technologies are simply too expensive to even consider adopting.
Tablets, abacuses, and manual tables
a) are no longer used, because of the proliferation of calculators and computers.
b) are examples of aids to manual calculating. <
c) were developed in Western Europe in the late Middle Ages.
d) replaced Hindu-Arabic numerals as the preferred way to do calculations.
e) All of the above.
The mechanical adding machines of Pascal and Leibniz were not widely adopted because
a) they were too expensive.
b) there were unreliable. <
c) they were too difficult to program.
d) they could not handle fractions.
e) bookkeepers successfully lobbied the King, and he made the machines illegal.
The calculating machine of Georg and Edvard Sheutz
a) computed the values of polynomial functions.
b) typeset the results of its computations.
c) performed calculations faster than they could be done manually.
d) performed calculations more reliably than they could be done manually.
e) All of the above. <
Which of the following phrases does not describe the Gilded Age in America?
a) rapid industrialization
b) economic expansion
c) widespread electrification <
d) concentration of corporate power
e) corporate mergers
Ethics for the Information Age, Eighth Edition. Copyright © 2018 by Pearson Education Inc. All rights reserved. 2
,Which of the following was not a result of the adoption of mechanical calculators?
a) Less demand for “superstars” who could rapidly compute sums by hand
b) Higher productivity of bookkeepers
c) Higher salaries of bookkeepers <
d) Proliferation of companies making calculators
e) Feminization of bookkeeping
Which of the following was not a feature of cash registers in the early 1900s?
a) Ability to compute total of purchases
b) Ability to print itemized receipts for customers
c) Ability to print log of transactions for owners
d) Ability to compute amount of change to give customer <
e) Ability to ring a bell every time cash drawer is opened
Punched card tabulation was invented by Herman Hollerith when he was an employee of
a) the Pennsylvania Railroad.
b) the Census Bureau. <
c) the Pennsylvania Steel Company.
d) the Burroughs Adding Machine Company.
e) IBM.
Which of the following phrases best describes a machine that inputs data, performs one or more
calculations, and produces output data?
a) manual calculator
b) digital computer
c) data-processing system <
d) difference engine
e) cash register
The first commercial electronic digital computers were produced just after
a) the Spanish-American War.
b) World War I.
c) World War II. <
d) the Korean War.
e) the Vietnam War.
Programming languages were developed in order to
a) make it possible to program computers in English.
b) make programming faster and less error-prone. <
c) speed translations between English and Russian during the Cold War.
d) improve the computation speed of computers, which were very expensive.
e) All of the above.
Programming languages FORTRAN and COBOL became international standards, meaning
a) they were approved by the United Nations.
b) the United States and other members of NATO agreed to share the designs.
c) the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to share the designs.
d) they were supported by every computer manufacturer. <
e) they were based on the metric system.
Ethics for the Information Age, Seventh Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Pearson Education Inc. All rights reserved. 3
, Software that allows multiple users to edit and run their programs simultaneously on the same
computer is called
a) a data-processing system.
b) an intranet.
c) a microprocessor.
d) a programming language.
e) a time-sharing system. <
A semiconductor device containing transistors, capacitors, and resistors is called
a) a difference engine.
b) a diode.
c) an integrated circuit. <
d) a radio.
e) a transformer.
Which Cold War program played an important role in advancing integrated circuit technology?
a) B-52 bomber
b) Hydrogen bomb
c) Mark 37 torpedo
d) Minuteman II ballistic missile <
e) NORAD radar network
Which company produced the System/360, a family of 19 compatible mainframe computers?
a) Fujitsu
b) Hewlett-Packard
c) IBM <
d) Intel
e) Texas Instruments
The company that invented the microprocessor is
a) Fujitsu
b) Hewlett-Packard
c) IBM
d) Intel <
e) Texas Instruments
Which of the following was not an activity of the People’s Computer Company, a not-for-profit
corporation in the San Francisco area?
a) Publishing a newspaper containing the source code to programs
b) Allowing people to rent time on a time-shared computer
c) Hosting Friday-evening game-playing sessions
d) Promoting a culture in which computer enthusiasts freely shared software
e) Developing the world’s first graphical user interface <
Who wrote “An Open Letter to Hobbyists,” complaining about software theft?
a) Stewart Brand
b) Bob Frankston
c) Bill Gates <
d) Steve Jobs
e) Steve Wozniak
Ethics for the Information Age, Eighth Edition. Copyright © 2018 by Pearson Education Inc. All rights reserved. 4
For each of the following questions, choose the letter of the one best response.
Chapter 1
The two principal catalysts for the Information Age have been
a) books and pamphlets.
b) computers and communication networks. <
c) radio and television.
d) newspapers and magazines.
e) telephones and television networks.
Which statement best supports the conclusion that society can control whether to adopt a new
technology?
a) No new nuclear power plants were built in the United States for 25 years after the accident
at Three Mile Island. <
b) About half of all email messages are spam.
c) Despite decades of research, fusion power is an elusive goal.
d) People do not have to listen to Rush Limbaugh if they do not want to.
e) Some new technologies are simply too expensive to even consider adopting.
Tablets, abacuses, and manual tables
a) are no longer used, because of the proliferation of calculators and computers.
b) are examples of aids to manual calculating. <
c) were developed in Western Europe in the late Middle Ages.
d) replaced Hindu-Arabic numerals as the preferred way to do calculations.
e) All of the above.
The mechanical adding machines of Pascal and Leibniz were not widely adopted because
a) they were too expensive.
b) there were unreliable. <
c) they were too difficult to program.
d) they could not handle fractions.
e) bookkeepers successfully lobbied the King, and he made the machines illegal.
The calculating machine of Georg and Edvard Sheutz
a) computed the values of polynomial functions.
b) typeset the results of its computations.
c) performed calculations faster than they could be done manually.
d) performed calculations more reliably than they could be done manually.
e) All of the above. <
Which of the following phrases does not describe the Gilded Age in America?
a) rapid industrialization
b) economic expansion
c) widespread electrification <
d) concentration of corporate power
e) corporate mergers
Ethics for the Information Age, Eighth Edition. Copyright © 2018 by Pearson Education Inc. All rights reserved. 2
,Which of the following was not a result of the adoption of mechanical calculators?
a) Less demand for “superstars” who could rapidly compute sums by hand
b) Higher productivity of bookkeepers
c) Higher salaries of bookkeepers <
d) Proliferation of companies making calculators
e) Feminization of bookkeeping
Which of the following was not a feature of cash registers in the early 1900s?
a) Ability to compute total of purchases
b) Ability to print itemized receipts for customers
c) Ability to print log of transactions for owners
d) Ability to compute amount of change to give customer <
e) Ability to ring a bell every time cash drawer is opened
Punched card tabulation was invented by Herman Hollerith when he was an employee of
a) the Pennsylvania Railroad.
b) the Census Bureau. <
c) the Pennsylvania Steel Company.
d) the Burroughs Adding Machine Company.
e) IBM.
Which of the following phrases best describes a machine that inputs data, performs one or more
calculations, and produces output data?
a) manual calculator
b) digital computer
c) data-processing system <
d) difference engine
e) cash register
The first commercial electronic digital computers were produced just after
a) the Spanish-American War.
b) World War I.
c) World War II. <
d) the Korean War.
e) the Vietnam War.
Programming languages were developed in order to
a) make it possible to program computers in English.
b) make programming faster and less error-prone. <
c) speed translations between English and Russian during the Cold War.
d) improve the computation speed of computers, which were very expensive.
e) All of the above.
Programming languages FORTRAN and COBOL became international standards, meaning
a) they were approved by the United Nations.
b) the United States and other members of NATO agreed to share the designs.
c) the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to share the designs.
d) they were supported by every computer manufacturer. <
e) they were based on the metric system.
Ethics for the Information Age, Seventh Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Pearson Education Inc. All rights reserved. 3
, Software that allows multiple users to edit and run their programs simultaneously on the same
computer is called
a) a data-processing system.
b) an intranet.
c) a microprocessor.
d) a programming language.
e) a time-sharing system. <
A semiconductor device containing transistors, capacitors, and resistors is called
a) a difference engine.
b) a diode.
c) an integrated circuit. <
d) a radio.
e) a transformer.
Which Cold War program played an important role in advancing integrated circuit technology?
a) B-52 bomber
b) Hydrogen bomb
c) Mark 37 torpedo
d) Minuteman II ballistic missile <
e) NORAD radar network
Which company produced the System/360, a family of 19 compatible mainframe computers?
a) Fujitsu
b) Hewlett-Packard
c) IBM <
d) Intel
e) Texas Instruments
The company that invented the microprocessor is
a) Fujitsu
b) Hewlett-Packard
c) IBM
d) Intel <
e) Texas Instruments
Which of the following was not an activity of the People’s Computer Company, a not-for-profit
corporation in the San Francisco area?
a) Publishing a newspaper containing the source code to programs
b) Allowing people to rent time on a time-shared computer
c) Hosting Friday-evening game-playing sessions
d) Promoting a culture in which computer enthusiasts freely shared software
e) Developing the world’s first graphical user interface <
Who wrote “An Open Letter to Hobbyists,” complaining about software theft?
a) Stewart Brand
b) Bob Frankston
c) Bill Gates <
d) Steve Jobs
e) Steve Wozniak
Ethics for the Information Age, Eighth Edition. Copyright © 2018 by Pearson Education Inc. All rights reserved. 4
