2

1 In a particular computer system, real numbers are stored using floating-point representation with:

• 12 bits for the mantissa

• 4 bits for the exponent
• two’s complement form for both mantissa and exponent.

(a) Calculate the normalised floating-point representation of +4.5 in this system. Show your
working.

Mantissa Exponent

Working ......................................................................................................................................

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(b) Calculate the normalised floating-point representation of −4.5 in this system. Show your
working.

Mantissa Exponent

Working ......................................................................................................................................

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(c) Calculate the denary value for the following binary floating-point number. Show your working.

Mantissa Exponent

0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1

Working ......................................................................................................................................

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Answer .......................................................................................................................................
[3]

(d) (i) State whether the floating-point number given in part (c) is normalised or not normalised.

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(ii) Justify your answer given in part (d)(i).

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(e) The system changes so that it now allocates eight bits to both the mantissa and the exponent.

Explain two effects this has on the numbers that can be represented.

1 .................................................................................................................................................

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2 .................................................................................................................................................

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 [4]
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2 The TCP/IP protocol suite can be viewed as a stack with four layers.

(a) Complete the stack by inserting the names of the three missing layers.

Application layer

[3]

(b) BitTorrent is a protocol used at the Application layer for the exchange of data.

(i) State the network model used with this protocol.

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(ii) State the use of BitTorrent.

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(iii) Explain how applications use BitTorrent to exchange data.

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(c) State two other protocols that are used at the Application layer for the exchange of data.

For each protocol, give a different example of an appropriate exchange of data.

Protocol 1 ..................................................................................................................................

Example .....................................................................................................................................

....................................................................................................................................................

Protocol 2 ..................................................................................................................................

Example .....................................................................................................................................

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 [4]
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3 (a) Complete the Boolean expression that corresponds to the following truth table.

INPUT OUTPUT
A B C X
0 0 0 0
0 0 1 0
0 1 0 0
0 1 1 1
1 0 0 0
1 0 1 0
1 1 0 1
1 1 1 1

X = A . B . C ........................................................................................................................ [2]

The part to the right of the equals sign is known as the sum-of-products.

(b) (i) Complete the Karnaugh map (K-map) for the truth table given in part (a).

AB
00 01 11 10
0
C
1
[1]

The K-map can be used to simplify the function in part (a).

(ii) Draw loop(s) around appropriate groups of 1s to produce an optimal sum-of-products.

[2]

(iii) Using your answer to part (b)(ii), write the simplified sum-of-products Boolean
expression.

X = ................................................................................................................................. [2]
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4 A student writes a program in a high-level programming language. A compiler translates the

program into machine code.

(a) The compilation process has a number of stages.

The output of the lexical analysis stage forms the input to the next stage.

(i) Identify this stage.

....................................................................................................................................... [1]

(ii) State two tasks that occur at this stage.

1..........................................................................................................................................

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2..........................................................................................................................................

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 [2]

(b) The program uses pseudocode in place of a high-level language.

There are a number of reasons for performing optimisation. One reason is to produce code
that minimises the amount of memory used.

State another reason for the optimisation of code.

............................................................................................................................................... [1]

(c) The following statement assigns an expression to the variable A.

Suggest what a compiler could do to optimise the following expression.

A ← B + 2 * 6

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(d) These lines of code are to be compiled:

X ← A + B
Y ← A + B + C

Following the syntax analysis stage, object code is generated. The equivalent code, in
assembly language, is shown below:

01 LDD 436 // loads value A

02 ADD 437 // adds value B
03 STO 612 // stores result in X
04 LDD 436 // loads value A
05 ADD 437 // adds value B
06 ADD 438 // adds value C
07 STO 613 // stores result in Y

Suggest what a compiler could do to optimise this code.

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5 Ed wants to send a message securely. Before sending the message, the software encrypts it
using a symmetric key.

(a) (i) Describe what is meant by symmetric key encryption.

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(ii) State two drawbacks of using symmetric key encryption.

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(b) The symmetric key is to be exchanged before the message is sent.

To exchange the key securely, the use of quantum cryptography is being considered.

State two possible benefits of using quantum cryptography.

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6 (a) Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be aided by the use of different techniques.

Draw a line from each technique to the correct description.

Technique Description

A structure used to model relationships between

objects.

Artificial Neural Network

A computer system modelled on a brain.

A* Algorithm
A computer program that improves its performance
at certain tasks with experience.
Graph

An abstract data type with a hierarchical structure.

Machine Learning

A computer method used to find the optimal path

between two mapped locations.

[4]

(b) Describe two categories of machine learning.

1 .................................................................................................................................................

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2 .................................................................................................................................................

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7 An ordered binary tree Abstract Data Type (ADT) has these associated operations:

• create tree
• add new item to tree
• traverse tree

A student is designing a program that will implement a binary tree ADT as a linked list of ten
nodes.

Each node consists of data, a left pointer and a right pointer.

A program is to be written to implement the tree ADT. The variables and procedures to be used
are listed below:

Identifier Data type Description

Node RECORD Data structure to store node data and associated
pointers.
LeftPointer INTEGER Stores index of start of left subtree.
RightPointer INTEGER Stores index of start of right subtree.
Data STRING Data item stored in node.
Tree ARRAY Array to store nodes.
NewDataItem STRING Stores data to be added.
FreePointer INTEGER Stores index of start of free list.
RootPointer INTEGER Stores index of root node.
NewNodePointer INTEGER Stores index of node to be added.
CreateTree() Procedure initialises the root pointer and free pointer
and links all nodes together into the free list.
AddToTree() Procedure to add a new data item in the correct
position in the binary tree.
FindInsertionPoint() Procedure that finds the node where a new node is
to be added.
Procedure takes the parameter NewDataItem and
returns two parameters:
• Index, whose value is the index of the node
where the new node is to be added
• Direction, whose value is the direction of the
pointer (“Left” or “Right”).
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These pseudocode declarations and this procedure can be used to create an empty tree with ten
nodes.

TYPE Node
DECLARE LeftPointer : INTEGER
DECLARE RightPointer: INTEGER
DECLARE Data : STRING
ENDTYPE
DECLARE Tree : ARRAY[0 : 9] OF Node
DECLARE FreePointer : INTEGER
DECLARE RootPointer : INTEGER

PROCEDURE CreateTree()
DECLARE Index : INTEGER
RootPointer ← -1
FreePointer ← 0
FOR Index ← 0 TO 9 // link nodes
Tree[Index].LeftPointer ← Index + 1
Tree[Index].RightPointer ← -1
NEXT
Tree[9].LeftPointer ← -1
ENDPROCEDURE

© UCLES 2018 9618/03/SP/21

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(a) Complete the pseudocode to add a data item to the tree.

PROCEDURE AddToTree(BYVALUE NewDataItem : STRING)

// if no free node report an error

IF FreePointer ............................................................................................................
THEN
OUTPUT "No free space left"
ELSE
// add new data item to first node in the free list
NewNodePointer ← FreePointer

.............................................................................................................................
// adjust free pointer

FreePointer ← ..............................................................................................
// clear left pointer

Tree[NewNodePointer].LeftPointer ← ................................................
// is tree currently empty?

IF ......................................................................................................................
THEN // make new node the root node

..............................................................................................................
ELSE // find position where new node is to be added
Index ← RootPointer
CALL FindInsertionPoint(NewDataItem, Index, Direction)
IF Direction = "Left"
THEN // add new node on left

...........................................................................................
ELSE // add new node on right

...........................................................................................
ENDIF
ENDIF
ENDIF
ENDPROCEDURE [8]

© UCLES 2018 9618/03/SP/21 [Turn over

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(b) The traverse tree operation outputs the data items in alphabetical order.
This can be written as a recursive solution.

Complete the pseudocode for the recursive procedure TraverseTree.

PROCEDURE TraverseTree(BYVALUE Pointer : INTEGER)

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ENDPROCEDURE [5]
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8 The following table shows part of the instruction set for a processor. The processor has one
general purpose register, the Accumulator (ACC).

Instruction
Explanation
Opcode Operand
LDM #n Load the denary number n to ACC
LDD <address> Load the contents of the location at the given address to ACC
STO <address> Store the contents of ACC at the given address
ADD <address> Add the contents of the given address to the ACC
INC <register> Add 1 to the contents of the register
CMP <address> Compare the contents of ACC with the contents of <address>
JPN <address> Following a compare instruction, jump to <address> if the
compare was False
END Return control to the operating system

(a) State the addressing mode used by:

LDM ............................................................................................................................................

....................................................................................................................................................

LDD.............................................................................................................................................

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 [2]

(b) Using opcodes from the table, write instructions to set the value at address 509 to the contents
of address 500 added to the value 12.

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