CSC 371
Homework 1

Assigned Sept. 2, due Sept. 11

This is a lot of exercises, but most of them are simple arithmetic and shouldn't take long.

• Exercises 1.3.1 through 1.3.6 on calculating the performance of computers. Use row a numbers for each problem.

• Exercises 1.10.1 through 1.10.4 on the speedup of multicore processors (note that these figures make the very optimistic assumption that an n-core processor only has to execute 1/n as many instructions per core!) Use row a numbers for each problem.

• Exercise 1.10.5 on power consumption in a multicore processor.
  Note: The formulæ in the book have incorrect units. The correct formulæ (which I figured out by looking at the solutions manual for instructors) should be

  Power = 5.0 mA/(Volt MHz) * Voltage² * Frequency
  
  Voltage = 1/5 Volt/GHz * Frequency + 0.4 Volt

  This problem doesn't depend on the numbers in the table, so it doesn't matter whether you look at row a or row b.

• Exercises 1.14.1 through 1.14.6 on different ways to measure performance (use row a numbers)

• Exercises 1.16.4 through 1.16.6 are about the realistic problem that the more processors you have, the more time they have to spend communicating with one another rather than computing.
  Hint: for problem 1.16.6, remember the definition of "routing time" (on the previous page).