Argueing with my teacher over an exam question ... help!

ColdFusion · Post by **ColdFusion** » Tue Nov 08, 2011 1:43 pm

Hey guys,

I'm having an argument with my teacher over an exam question. This is the question:

What are processors frequency measured in?
Gigahertz
Megahertz
Hertz
.. 1more I cant remember

The correct answer according to him is Gigahertz. I chose Hertz as this is unit of measurement is hertz and gigahertz is simply one million hertz and which current processors generally use. Now the question is not specific at all ... it could be a processor from 10 years ago that used megahertz or even further back i guess that could use hertz. His main argument is that the text book states processor frequency is measured in gigahertz. I've argued with him and hes staying firm on this but he said that there is a way which I could argue this which would be correct and a valid argument in which he will give me the mark. My knowledge is limited and I'm not sure how else to argue this point or what specifically hes looking for.

Any ideas?
Thanks!
Matt

RaisinCain · Post by **RaisinCain** » Tue Nov 08, 2011 3:27 pm

I'd venture to say that you're right...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clock_rate

http://www.cpu-world.com/Glossary/C/CPU_Frequency.html

Rainbow · Post by **Rainbow** » Tue Nov 08, 2011 4:43 pm

Technically I would venture to say your teacher is correct. 2.1 can't be hertz its gigahertz. If hertz was the fundamental it was measured in there would be a bunch of zeros in there

Unholy · Post by **Unholy** » Tue Nov 08, 2011 5:16 pm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hertz

If none of those work I have a old 400MHz AMD K6-III you an chuck at him.

*RANT* Is your teacher also a math teacher? I had a couple of Math teachers teaching CS straight out of books and couldn't deviate that sucked. *RANT*

RaisinCain · Post by **RaisinCain** » Tue Nov 08, 2011 5:35 pm

Rainbow wrote:Technically I would venture to say your teacher is correct. 2.1 can't be hertz its gigahertz. If hertz was the fundamental it was measured in there would be a bunch of zeros in there

Wow. Did you even bother to do any research before posting?

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Tue Nov 08, 2011 5:42 pm

I could see an arguement for megahertz, as any processor made in the last 15 years or so would be able to be measured by that, but overall its a dumb question and he shouldnt even be focusing on it so much.

Of course hertz fits, or you could say all of the above, the question doesn't state what is the best way to measure it, just a way.

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Tue Nov 08, 2011 6:15 pm

maybe tell him to use FLOPS instead

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Tue Nov 08, 2011 7:56 pm

Your answer is in asking him some questions.
Ask him to tell you the speed range of the P55C family (first Pentium MMX). Ask him to tell you the first and last speed of the Pentium II. Ask him to tell you the first speed of the Slot 1 Pentium III, and the first socket Pentium III speeds.

Ask him to tell you the average speed of the processors in home grade routers like a Linksys or Netgear
Ask him to tell you the speed of Alix Geode processors (small x86 processors for biz grade router platforms)

The answer is MHz.
There is a kHz..but I don't think there was ever a production processor slower than 1MHz.

Shinobi · Post by **Shinobi** » Tue Nov 08, 2011 8:23 pm

YeOldeStonecat wrote: The answer is MHz.
There is a kHz..but I don't think there was ever a production processor slower than 1MHz.

Maybe some sort of early micro computer.. although I think most were 1MHz or about..
I concur with YOSC answer as it is spot on.

ColdFusion · Post by **ColdFusion** » Tue Nov 08, 2011 8:58 pm

Awesome everyone! YOSC you always come to the rescue

I'll let you know how it goes.

Btw, found the slowest processor (i think). The Intel 4004 runs at 740Khz. I guess I wont be able to argue my answer fully but hopefully he will give me the mark just for proving his only acceptable answer wrong.

ColdFusion · Post by **ColdFusion** » Tue Nov 08, 2011 9:06 pm

One more thing. I did try to use the megahertz argument .. i used the z-80 (which we used in class) as an example which he still wouldn't totally buy ... definitely got him thinking though. The final thing he said to me after that was "You have 24 hours ... there is a way that you are right but you'll have to figure it out". Is there any other angles you guys could think of that he might be looking for?

JawZ · Post by **JawZ** » Tue Nov 08, 2011 10:35 pm

Cycles per second. That's the definition of hertz. The xxxx-hertz preceeding is just a multiple or submultiple. Your friggin TV is 60Hz...just like your PC LCD monitor...they refresh the screen 60 times a second. I don't understand why this is so difficult for your teacher. The correct answer is hertz. CPU's basically started out at the 1MHz mark and now we have progressed all the way up to 6GHz. Eventually we will have terrahertz class CPU's. What's so friggin hard about this?

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 5:57 am

ColdFusion wrote:The Intel 4004 runs at 740Khz. I guess I wont be able to argue my answer fully

Then there ya go! The correct answer would be hertz like Evan said. I said megahertz even though I do believe processor speeds are ultimately measured in Hz because I couldn't recall a processor below 1MHz. But you did. But actually Hz would be correct, not MHz, because we now measure CPUs in GHz speeds....not GMhz.

Rainbow · Post by **Rainbow** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 6:06 am

RaisinCain wrote:Wow. Did you even bother to do any research before posting?

Duh no whats research

RaisinCain · Post by **RaisinCain** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 9:43 am

^ Yeah that's what I figured.

Rainbow · Post by **Rainbow** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 10:02 am

Yea you would.....................

RaisinCain · Post by **RaisinCain** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 2:07 pm

^ Damn straight.

Paft · Post by **Paft** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 3:12 pm

It's Hertz. That's the base unit to measure in. "Kilo-", "Mega-", "Giga-", etc are all just multipliers.

Hertz = Cycles/second. It's that simple. Basic electrical engineering.

Rainbow · Post by **Rainbow** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 3:50 pm

RaisinCain wrote:^ Damn straight.

Randy · Post by **Randy** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 7:17 pm

I understand the question as "what frequency"

the unit of frequency is the hertz (Hz), named after the German physicist Heinrich Hertz.

its similar to how distance is calculated metric or imperial >> it would not matter if it was 3 meters or 3 kilometers the its is still the metric system.

mhrz, ghrz. khrz its all the hertz system

also the question

What are processors frequency measured in?

"processors " < is unspecific! are we talking about a central processor ? micro processor? graphics processor? could be a food processor?

hertz is the correct answer in my opinion but also the the question itself is ambiguous and should be rewritten.