Exercise 1.

5, page 28
1. The five traditional methods are:

• Filing system: data is filled into a filling cabinet or storage area

• Catalogue system: data is stored in lists, and often in alphabetical

order

• Journals and ledgers: amounts are recorded in columns in a special

box to keep a record of a firm’s financial transaction

• Microfiche: data is photographically transferred to a transparent

sheet film about 10 x 15 cm. One sheet = 200 pages

• Printed media: data is stored on paper in the form of newspapers,

magazines and books

2. The disadvantages of the digital date are:

• The cost of the hardware, software and installation may be

prohibitive

• Compatibility with existing technology must be investigated

• The participants in the information system need to be trained.

People are often reluctant to adopt new methods

• Social and ethical issues such as privacy, security, copy right and
the changing nature of work need to be addressed

The advantages of the digital date are:

• Ease of editing: data in form of images, audio, video, text and

numbers, can be easily updated and modified as required

• Ease of storage: large amounts of data can be stored on a disk or

CD.

• Quick search: large amounts of data can be searched and stored

quickly and accurately

• Performing calculations: precise and complex calculations can be

performed on the data very quickly

• Ease of transmission: data can be easily exchanged. The internet

can be used to get the information throughout the world

3. The four digitising trends are:

 • Electronic newspapers allow people to access information on stories
of special interest.

• Internet banking allows customers to view their account balances

and transaction histories, transfer money between accounts, and
pay bills over the internet

• Electronic commerce allows commercial transaction to be carried

out electronically using a credit or debit card instead of cash

• Internet shopping allows organisations to sell their goods and

services on a global scale

4. Byte is the basic unit of measurement for digital data

5. Because two digits are easily represented electronically by circuit in the

computer being either on or off.

6. a. 2Mb = 2 097 152 b

b. 160Kb = 163 840 b

c. 3 000 000b = 2.861022949 Mb

d. 4Gb = 4,294,967,296 b

e. 560Mb = 573,440 Kb

f. 8000Kb = 7.8125 Mb

7. The two coding methods are ASCII and EBCDIC. ASCII a standard coding
method on personal computers and EBCDIC a coding method used on
large IBM computers.

8. 7-bit ASCII have 128 different characters

9. Because it was a problem with many languages other than English. Many
European languages include accent marks and special characters that
cannot be represented by standard ASCII.

10.The ASCII code in binary:

a) B = 1000010

b) m = 1101101

11.ASCII code in hexadecimal:

a) $ = 24

b) DEL = 7F
12.EBCDIC code in binary:

a) g = 10000111

b) ? = 01101110

13.EBCDIC code in hexadecimal:

a) @ = 7C

b) 7 = F7