Consider a computer and its associated memory. This could be a computer that you

Question

Consider a computer and its associated memory. This could be a computer that you now use, a computer that you have used in the past, or another fictitious computer, but the exercise will be more meaningful if it is NOT the computer that you are now using. (You may make an assumption on word size if needed.) How large is the memory of the computer? . How long is a word in the computer above? How many bits are required to address the bytes in that memory? How many data lines are required to read data from the computer memory?

Explanation / Answer

The computer in consideration is my old laptop which I do not use any more. It's name is : IBM LENOVO THINKPAD T60 LAPTOP WINDOWS 10 32bit NOTEBOOK COMPUTER DVD HD WiFi PC

1.How large is the memory of the computer?
Ans: The memory here means the RAM size of the computer that is considered as the primary memory of the computer.
The computer being 32-bit means that it can support 3-4 GB(3,221,225,472-4,294,967,296 Bytes) of RAM at maximum.
In my case it is 2 GB (2,147,483,648 Bytes) of RAM.

2.How long is a word in a computer?
Ans: A word is a fixed-sized piece of data handled as a unit by the instruction set or the hardware of the processor.
In layman terms a WORD in a computer refers to the size of a processor register. Since it is a 32-bit processor the WORD size is 32-bits.
It's uses:

3.How many bits are required to address the bytes in that memory?
Ans: In my laptop the bits required to address the bytes in the memory are 32-bits.
This could be determined by taking a look at the size of the address bus of the processor.
An address bus is a computer bus used to specify a physical address.
The width of the address bus determines the amount of memory a system can address.
In my case it is 2^32 (4,294,967,296 Bytes) memory locations.
This means that if each memory location holds one Byte, the addressable memory is equal to 4 GB.

4.How many data lines are required to read data from the computer memory?
Ans: Data bus/lines, indicates the physical number of wires in a data bus line.
In 32-bit processor it is equal to 32 lines.
This means that at a time 32-bits can be transferred from processor to memory or vice-versa.

Units of Computer Memory :
1 Bit = Binary Digit (0/1)
8 Bits = 1 Byte (A WORD)
1024 Bytes = 1 KB (Kilo Byte)
1024 KB = 1 MB (Mega Byte)
1024 MB = 1 GB(Giga Byte)
1024 GB = 1 TB(Terra Byte)
1024 TB = 1 PB(Peta Byte)
1024 PB = 1 EB(Exa Byte)

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