COMPUTER SCIENCE 0478

Paper 1 Computer Systems 50 minutes

Teacher’s Signature: __________________

A meeting is required to discuss the performance of the exam:

Yes No

Parent’s Signature: _____________________

You must answer on the question paper.

No additional materials are needed.

INSTRUCTIONS
● Answer all questions.
● Use a black or dark blue pen. You may use an HB pencil for any diagrams or graphs.
● Write your name, centre number and candidate number in the boxes at the top of the page.
● Write your answer to each question in the space provided.
● Do not use an erasable pen or correction fluid.
● Do not write on any bar codes.
● Calculators must not be used in this paper.

INFORMATION
● The total mark for this paper is 50.
● The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].
● No marks will be awarded for using brand names of software packages or hardware.

This document has 8 pages. Any blank pages are indicated

1. An alarm clock is controlled by a microprocessor. It uses the 24 hour clock. The hour is represented
by an 8-bit register, A, and the number of minutes is represented by another 8-bit register, B.

(a) Identify what time is represented by the following two 8-bit registers.

A B

0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 : 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 1

Hours ............................................ Minutes ......................................... [2]

(b) An alarm has been set for 07:30. Two 8-bit registers, C and D, are used to represent the hours
and minutes of the alarm time.

Show how 07:30 would be represented by these two registers:

C D

Hours Minutes

Workings:
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(c) Two's complement allows for the same addition circuitry to be used for both addition and
subtraction. Show what will be the result of C-D in a new register E.

Workings:
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[2]

© UCLES 2015 0478/11/M/J/15

2. In the following barcode, each binary number is made up of seven bars. Each bar is black or grey.

A black bar is interpreted as a “1” and a grey bar is interpreted as a “0”.

(a) Write the binary numbers that would be produced from this barcode:

Binary number A Binary number B

Binary number A:

Binary number B:

[2]

(b) Explain the effect of Shifting Binary numbers A to the right by 3 bits.

Explanation
..............................................................................................................................................

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

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

Binary number A:

[3]

(c) Explain the effect of Shifting Binary numbers B to the left by 2 bits.

Explanation
..............................................................................................................................................

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

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

Binary number B:

[3]

© UCLES 2015 0478/11/M/J/15

3. The memory of a computer contains data and instructions in binary.

The following instruction is stored in a location of the memory.

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

(a) Convert the instruction into hexadecimal.

Workings:
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(b) Explain why a programmer might prefer to read the instruction in hexadecimal rather than in
binary.

Workings:
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(c) Give two other uses of hexadecimal.

Use 1 ........................................................................................................................................

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Use 2 ........................................................................................................................................

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© UCLES 2015 0478/11/M/J/15

 4. Characters can be represented in a computer by a numerical ASCII code.

The following list shows 16 characters with their numerical ASCII codes in denary:

a = 97 e = 101 k = 107 t = 116

b = 98 g = 103 m = 109 u = 117
c = 99 h = 104 o = 111 w = 119
d = 100 i = 105 r = 114

. = 46 (code for the full stop)

Web addresses can be written using hexadecimal rather than denary. Hexadecimal codes are
preceded by a % sign. For example, the word “c a g e” is written as:

either 99 97 103 101 (in denary)

or %63 %61 %67 %65 (in hexadecimal)

(a) Complete the conversion of the following web address into hexadecimal:

w w w . a s c o t . a c . t h

%77 %77 %77

[3]

(b) Complete the following web address from the given decimal ASCII codes:

119 119 119 46 115 112 97 99 101 46 99 111 109

w w w

[3]
5.
(a) A manufacturer of spacecraft engines assigns a denary identification number (ID) to each
engine. One engine has the ID:0431. The current status of the engine is sent to a computer
in the spacecraft as well as to the manufacturer.

Each piece of data collected is 10 bytes in size. Data collection occurs every 10 seconds.

Calculate the number of kilobytes that would be needed to store the data collected during a 10-
hour flight. Show your work.

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

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

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....................................................................................................................... kilobytes [2]

© UCLES 2015 0478/11/M/J/15

 (b) Sound can be represented as binary.

(i) Explain why recording sound with a higher sampling resolution creates a more accurate
recording.

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

6. Consider the following 8x8 black and white image, where each pixel is either black (represented by
1) or white (represented by 0):

0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0

0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0

1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1

1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1

1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1

1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1

0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0

0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Use Run-Length Encoding (RLE) to compress the above image row by row. Write the RLE format
for each row as a sequence of pairs.

Workings:
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© UCLES 2015 0478/11/M/J/15
7. (a) Mr Thomas wants to send a large file to the Cambridge Exam Center over the Internet.

State two benefits of compressing the file to send it.

Benefit 1 .........................................................................................................................

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Benefit 2 .........................................................................................................................

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(b) Two types of compression are lossy and lossless.

Choose the most suitable type of compression for the following and explain your choice.

i. Sending/Receiving the code for a computer program:

Type of compression

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Explanation
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..............................................................................................................................................[3]

(c) Streaming a 10-minute music video file:

Type of compression

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Explanation
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.............................................................................................................................................[3]

© UCLES 2015 0478/11/M/J/15

8. Draw a line to connect each question to the correct answer.

Question Answer

What is the denary (base 10)

equivalent to the hexadecimal 8
digit E?

If 1 GB = 2x then what is the

value of X? 12

How many bits are there in one

byte? 14

If the broadband data download

rate is 40 megabits per second,
how many seconds will it take to 19
download a 60 MB file?

What is the denary (base 10)

value of the binary number
30
00100100?

What hexadecimal value

is obtained when the two
hexadecimal digits C and D 36
are added together?
[5]

© UCLES 2015 0478/11/M/J/15