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Cambridge
IGCSE™ and O Level

Computer
Science
Computer Systems

David Watson
Helen Williams

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Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been inadvertently
overlooked, the Publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first
opportunity.
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ISBN: 978 1 3983 1849 6
© David Watson and Helen Williams 2021
First published in 2021 by
Hodder Education
An Hachette UK Company
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Impression number 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Year 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021
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A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
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Contents
Introduction 4
1 Data representation 5
2 Data transmission 26
3 Hardware 41
4 Software 60
5 The internet and cyber security 71
6 Automated and emerging technologies 84

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Introduction
Welcome to the Cambridge IGCSETM and O Level Computer Science Computer Systems Workbook. This and
the companion Algorithms, Programming and Logic Workbook replace the previous Computer Science
Workbook and are designed to complement the second edition of the Student’s Book and support the
Cambridge IGCSE, IGCSE (9-1) and O Level Computer Science syllabuses (0478/0984/2210).
The aim of this Workbook is to provide you with further opportunity to practise the skills and test the
knowledge and understanding you have acquired through using the first six chapters of the Cambridge
IGCSE and O Level Computer Science Second Edition Student’s Book. It is designed as a ‘write-in’ book
to supplement your learning of different topics as you work through each chapter of the Student’s
Book and can be used either for home study or in class. The Workbook is intended to be sufficiently
flexible to suit whatever you feel is the best approach according to your needs.
The chapters in this Workbook have the same names as those in the Student’s Book and reflect the
theory topics in the Student’s Book.

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1 Data representation
1 Convert the denary number 165 into:

a binary

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

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

b hexadecimal

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

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

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

2 a Convert the following binary number into denary:

01110110

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

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

b Convert the following hexadecimal number into denary:

5F

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

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

c Convert the following binary number into hexadecimal:

101011000100

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

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

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1 Data representation

d Convert the following hexadecimal number into binary:

3ED

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

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

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

3 a How many mebibytes (MiB) of storage would be needed to store 800 photographs each
of which are 16 MiB in size?

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

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

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

b Write your answer from part a in gibibytes (GiB).

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

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

4 The ASCII code for 'A' is 65 and for 'a' is 97.

a Write these denary values in 8-bit binary:

i 65

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

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

ii 97

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

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

b State the denary ASCII code for 'V' and 'v'.

i 'V'

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

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

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1 Data representation

ii 'v'

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

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

c Write the two denary values in part b in 8-bit binary format:

i 'V'

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

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

ii 'v'

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

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

d Using your answers to part a and part b, suggest an easy way of finding the ASCII
binary code for a lower-case letter (for example, 'm') if the ASCII code for the upper-case
letter (for example, 'M') is known.

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

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

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

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

5 A computer system uses binary codes for letters of the alphabet as follows:

A = 10, B = 11, C = 12, … , X = 33, Y = 34, Z = 35

a Write the denary value for 'X' in binary using an 8-bit register:

b To convert the binary code for 'X' to the binary code for 'x', all the bits in the 8-bit
register in part a undergo a logic shift two places to the left.

i Write down the contents of the 8-bit register after the bits, representing 'X', have been
moved two places to the left.

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1 Data representation

ii Convert the binary value in part b i into denary:

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

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

c State the denary values for the following two letters using the method described in
part b.

i r:

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

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

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

ii m:

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

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

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

6 a Convert the denary number 4 4 8 0 1 into hexadecimal.

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

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

b Convert the hexadecimal number in part a into a 16-bit binary number.

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

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

7 State three uses of the hexadecimal system.

1  
............................................................................................................................................................................

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

2  
............................................................................................................................................................................

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

3  
............................................................................................................................................................................

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

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1 Data representation

8 Six questions are shown on the left and eight numerical values are shown on the right.

Draw lines to connect each question to its correct numerical value (two of the numerical
values are not used).
What is the denary value of this hexadecimal digit? 10
E

12
What is the denary value of this binary number?
00011100
14

If the download speed for broadband is

8 mebibytes per second, how long would it take 16
to download a 96 mebibyte file (in seconds)?
22
If 2x = 1 tebibyte (TiB), what is the value of x?
28
What is the hexadecimal value of this denary
number?
50 32

How many bits are there in two bytes of data? 40

9
START

INPUT
number

X ← number

D ← 128

X←X–D

No OUTPUT
is X < 0?
1

Yes

OUTPUT
0

X←X+D

D ← D/2

is D < 1?
No

Yes

STOP

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1 Data representation

a Trace through the flowchart using the following two values as inputs:

i 220

Number X D OUTPUT

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1 Data representation

ii 73

Number X D OUTPUT

b Explain the function of the flowchart in part a.

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

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

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1 Data representation

10 a i Convert 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 into denary.

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

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

ii Convert 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 into denary.

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

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

b i Add together 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 and 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 1, giving your answer in binary.

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

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

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

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

ii Convert your answer in part b i to denary.

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

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

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

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

11 a Write down the largest number that can be represented by the following binary register.

Give your answer in binary and denary form:

128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1

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

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

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1 Data representation

b i Add together 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 and 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 1, giving your answer as an 8-bit binary

number.

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

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

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

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

ii Comment on your answer to part b i.

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

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

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

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

12 An 8-bit binary register contains the following value:

0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0

a Write down the denary value of the register.

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

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

b The contents of the register undergo a logical shift one place to the right.

i Show the result of this right shift:

ii Write down the denary value of your answer to part b i.

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

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

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1 Data representation

iii The register in part b i now undergoes a further logical shift two places to the right.
Comment on your result.

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

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

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

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

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

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

c The content of the original register (shown in part a) now undergoes a logical shift two places
to the left.

i Show the contents of the register after this left shift operation.

ii State, with reasons, the effect of this shift on the denary value shown in part a.

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

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

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

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

13 a Convert the denary numbers, 37 and 19, into 8-bit binary numbers:

37: ......................................................................................................................................................................

19: .....................................................................................................................................................................

b Add together the two binary numbers in part a, and give your answer in binary.

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

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

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

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

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1 Data representation

c Carry out a logical shift, two places to the left, on your result from part b.

Comment on your answer.

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

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

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

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

d Carry out a logical shift, four places to the right, on your result from part b.

Comment on your answer.

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

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

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

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

14 A computer system uses two’s complement notation.

a Complete the headings for an 8-bit binary number which uses two’s complement:
64 32 16 8 4 2 1
.......................................

b Write down i the most negative and ii the most positive numbers that can be stored in an
8-bit register which uses two’s complement. Give your answers in both denary and binary
format.

i most negative:

denary value:

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

........................................................................................................................................................................
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1 Data representation

ii most positive:

denary value:

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

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

c Convert the following two denary numbers into 8-bit binary numbers which use the two’s
complement format.

i +47

ii −59

d Convert the following two binary numbers, written in two’s complement format, into denary.

i 11001110

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

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

ii 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0

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

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

e i Convert the denary number, +45, into binary, using the two’s complement format.

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

ii Convert the denary number, −45, into binary, using the two’s complement format.

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

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

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1 Data representation

iii Add together the binary numbers found in parts e i and e ii, leaving your answer
in binary. Comment on the result.

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

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

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

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

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

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

15 a A camera detector has an array of 4096 by 2048 pixels and uses a colour depth of 16.

Calculate the size of an image taken by this camera; give your answer in MiB.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

b An audio CD uses 40960 samples per second, with 16 bits being used per sample.

The music being sampled uses two channels to allow for stereo recordings.

Calculate the file size for a 1024 second recording. Give your answer in MiB.

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

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

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1 Data representation

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

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

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

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

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

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

16 a Give three reasons why it is often necessary to reduce the size of a file.

1  
.......................................................................................................................................................................

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

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

2  
.......................................................................................................................................................................

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

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

3  
.......................................................................................................................................................................

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

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

b Explain the difference between lossy and lossless file compression.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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1 Data representation

c i Give one example of the use of lossy file compression.

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

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

ii Give one example of the use of lossless file compression.

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

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

17 In terms of representing bitmap images, explain the following:

a colour depth: ...................................................................................................................................................

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

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

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

b image resolution: ............................................................................................................................................

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

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

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

18 Explain the difference between ASCII code and Unicode.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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