Chapter 6 Vocabulary

Front 1

Analong

Back 1

continuous (wave form) signal

Front 2

Airthmetic logic unit

Back 2

components of a processor that performs, airthmetic , comparison, and other operation

Front 3

Bit

Back 3

the smallest unit in data a computer can process. bit is short binary digit

Front 4

Byte

Back 4

8 bits that are grouped together as a unit . a byte provides enough different combination of 0s and 1s to represents 256 individual character.

Front 5

bus

Back 5

Electrical channel that transfers electronic bits internally within the circuitry of a computer, allowing the devices both inside and attached to the system unit to communicate with each other.

Front 6

binary system

Back 6

Number system used by computers that has just two unique digits, 0 and 1, called bits.

Front 7

cache

Back 7

Area of memory that stores the contents of frequently used data or instructions.

Front 8

control unit

Back 8

Component of a processor that directs and coordinates most of the operations in the computer.

Front 9

clock speed

Back 9

Pace of the system clock, measured by the number of ticks per second.

Front 10

digtal

Back 10

Representation of data using only two discrete states: on (1) and off (0).

Front 11

expansion slot

Back 11

Socket on a motherboard that can hold an adapter card.

Front 12

adapter card

Back 12

Circuit board that enhances functions of a component of a system unit and/or provides connections to peripherals.

Front 13

gigabyte

Back 13

Approximately 1 billion bytes.

Front 14

gigahertz

Back 14

One billion ticks of the system clock per second.

Front 15

memory

Back 15

Electronic components in a computer that store instructions waiting to be executed and data needed by those instructions.

Front 16

memory cache

Back 16

Cache that helps speed the processes of a computer by storing frequently used instructions and data.

Front 17

motherboard

Back 17

Main circuit board of the system unit, which has some electronic components attached to it and others built into it. See also system board.

Front 18

processor

Back 18

Electronic component on a computer's motherboard that interprets and carries out the basic instructions that operate the computer. Also called CPU or central processing unit. See also central processing unit (CPU).

Front 19

multi-core processor

Back 19

Single chip with two or more separate processors.

Front 20

random access memory

Back 20

Type of memory that can be read from and written to by the processor and other devices. Programs and data are loaded into random access memory from storage devices such as a hard disk and remain in random access memory as long as the computer has continuous power. See also main memory.

Front 21

read only memory

Back 21

Type of nonvolatile memory that is used to store permanent data and instructions.

Front 22

sound card

Back 22

Adapter card that enhances the sound generating capabilities of a personal computer by allowing sound to be input through a microphone and output through external speakers or headset.

Front 23

system clock

Back 23

Small quartz crystal circuit that is used by the processor to control the timing of all computer operations.

Front 24

terabyte

Back 24

a unit of information equal to one million million (1012) or strictly, 240 bytes.