How a Computer Counts: teacher key

How Computers Work, grade 6 edition, written for 6th grade. See how a computer follows a list of instructions and keeps numbers, pictures and sound in bits and bytes.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. How many different patterns can one byte make?
   • 256 (answer)
   • 8
   • 1,000
2. What do computers turn sound into?
   • Pixels
   • Magnets
   • Lists of numbers (answer)
3. Where does a computer copy a program before it runs?
   • Into RAM (answer)
   • Onto a screen
   • Into a pixel
4. What is compression?
   • Squeezing pictures and sound into less space (answer)
   • Adding two numbers
   • Turning off RAM
5. Is a bit stored the same way in a chip and on a hard disk?
   • No, as charge in a chip and magnetism on a disk (answer)
   • Yes, always as charge
   • Yes, always as a pixel

Words

• binary: two-digit system
• compression: squeezing data
• pixels: tiny squares
• RAM: fast memory