System requirements: hardware

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Date:

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Quick Questions

Shade in the A or B circle for each question.

1. A school canteen database will grow to hold 5 years of orders. Which hardware requirement does this mainly affect?

A Screen colour

B Storage capacity

2. A program loads a 2 GB CSV file into an array of records all at once. Which hardware requirement matters most?

A Enough RAM (memory)

B A bigger keyboard

3. Which statement best describes a hardware requirement?

A The processing power, memory, storage and peripherals needed to run the solution

B The rules the solution must follow, such as laws and budget

4. A solution must scan barcodes at the school shop. Which type of hardware requirement is this?

A A peripheral (barcode scanner)

B Storage capacity

5. A solution stores 50,000 student records of about 1 KB each. Which hardware need is being calculated?

A Processor clock speed needed

B Storage capacity needed (about 50 MB)

Match the Pairs

Draw a line connecting each item on the left to its match on the right.

Left column		Right column
1Storage: 500 GB free disk space		AProcessor: quad-core CPU, 3.0 GHz
2Memory: 16 GB RAM		BA memory requirement: the device needs enough RAM to load and process large data sets at once
3A solution that scans photos at a school office needs a peripheral device connected to the computer		CPeripherals: flatbed scanner, USB barcode reader
4A hardware requirement can state the processing power needed to run the solution smoothly		DAn operating system is software or a platform, not hardware. A hardware requirement names the processor, RAM, storage or peripherals.
5Hardware requirement: Windows 11 operating system		ERAM is memory, not storage. A 200 GB database needs disk storage capacity, so the requirement mixes up memory and storage.
6Storage: 8 GB RAM for the 200 GB database		FA storage capacity requirement: the device needs enough disk space to hold the database and its future growth

Definitions

hardware requirement

Fill in the Blanks

Complete each line of code by filling in the missing parts.

________ requirement: 16 GB RAM, 500 GB disk

storageNeeded <- records _ recordSize

if fileSize > _______ then print "Not enough memory" endif

peripherals <- ["scanner", "printer"] print ___________[2]

if cpuCores _ 4 then print "Upgrade processor" endif

Spot the Error

Shade in the letter of the line that contains an error.

Question 1

A records ← 50000

B bytes ← records + 200

C mb ← bytes / 1000000

D print mb

Question 2

A fileGB ← 6

B ramNeeded ← fileGB / 2

C ramGB ← 16

D if ramGB >= ramNeeded then

E print "Enough memory"

Question 3

A usedGB ← 120

B freeGB ← 500 + usedGB

C dbGB ← 50

D if freeGB >= dbGB then

E print "Enough space"

Question 4

A needs ← ["screen", "scanner"]

B has ← ["screen", "keyboard"]

C for each item in has

D if item not in has then

E print item

Question 5

A cores ← 4

B minCores ← 2

C if cores <= minCores then

D print "Processor OK"

Answer Key

System requirements: hardware

Section A: Quick Questions

B — Storage capacity

A — Enough RAM (memory)

A — The processing power, memory, storage and peripherals needed to run the solution

A — A peripheral (barcode scanner)

B — Storage capacity needed (about 50 MB)

Section B: Match the Pairs

Storage: 500 GB free disk space → A storage capacity requirement: the device needs enough disk space to hold the database and its future growth

Memory: 16 GB RAM → A memory requirement: the device needs enough RAM to load and process large data sets at once

A solution that scans photos at a school office needs a peripheral device connected to the computer → Peripherals: flatbed scanner, USB barcode reader

A hardware requirement can state the processing power needed to run the solution smoothly → Processor: quad-core CPU, 3.0 GHz

Hardware requirement: Windows 11 operating system → An operating system is software or a platform, not hardware. A hardware requirement names the processor, RAM, storage or peripherals.

Storage: 8 GB RAM for the 200 GB database → RAM is memory, not storage. A 200 GB database needs disk storage capacity, so the requirement mixes up memory and storage.

Section C: Definitions

hardware requirement — The processing power, memory, storage and peripherals needed to run a solution and hold its data, such as disk space for a database or RAM for large files.

Section D: Fill in the Blanks

hardware requirement: 16 GB RAM, 500 GB disk

storageNeeded <- records * recordSize

if fileSize > ramSize then
  print "Not enough memory"
endif

peripherals <- ["scanner", "printer"]
print peripherals[2]

if cpuCores < 4 then
  print "Upgrade processor"
endif

Section E: Spot the Error

B — Storage needed is the number of records multiplied by the size of each record, not added to it. The line should be bytes ← records * 200.

B — Working with a large file needs at least as much RAM as the file, plus room to process it. Dividing by 2 gives less than the file size. It should be fileGB * 2.

B — Free space on a 500 GB disk is the capacity minus the space already used. Adding usedGB gives a wrong, too-large number. It should be 500 - usedGB.

C — To find missing peripherals, the loop must go through the list of required devices (needs) and check each one against what is available. It should be for each item in needs.

C — The processor meets the requirement when it has at least the minimum number of cores. The comparison should be >=, not <=.