Blog 3: Math

Decimal 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Hex 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F

Binary 0000 0001 0010 0011 0100 0101 0110 0111 1000 1001 1010 1011 1100 1101 1110 1111

1. Convert the following binary numbers to both hexadecimal (base-16) and decimal (base-10)
a. 1011 hexadecimal:B decimal:11
b. 10101 hexadecimal:15 decimal:21
c. 10010110 hexadecimal: 96 decimal:150
d. 1111111 hexadecimal:7F decimal:127

2. Convert the following decimal numbers to both binary (base-2) and hexadecimal (base-16)
a. 8 binary:1000 hexadecimal:8
b. 63 binary:00111111 hexadecimal:3F

c. 113 binary:01110001 hexadecimal:71

d. 97 binary:01100001 hexadecimal:61

3. Suppose that we want to download a 200 MB file. How long will it take on each of the following connections?

a. A modem that can download at 56 kilobits/second

200MB=204800 kilobyte=1638400 kilobits so, 1638400/56=29257.14 seconds, or 8.12 hours
b. A DSL connection that can download at 5 Megabits/second

200MB=1600 Megabits so, 1600/5=320 seconds, or 5.3 minutes
c. A high-speed connection that can download 10 Megabits/second

200MB=1600 Megabits so, 1600/10=160 seconds, or 2.6 minutes.

4. If we have an Internet connection that can upload 3 Megabits/second, and an MP3 is 60 Megabytes, how many MP3s can we upload in an hour? In a month (given a reliable connection)?

1 megabyte is 8 megabits, so 60 megabytes are 480 megabits, the connection can send it in 160 seconds. so in an hour there are 3600 seconds, so 3600/160=22.5 songs in an hour. in a month there are 2629743 seconds in a month so 2 629 743/160=16435.9 songs in a month.

Net Neutrality

1. What is the fundamental issue underlying the net neutrality debate?

The internet should be free; there should not be any rules that limit us to seeing normal websites, and ISP's should not control what we can see and what we can't see because of whatever deal they have made with some big company like google or yahoo (these companies are favored when there is net control). Basically, net neutrality is the use of the internet with no restrictions from the providers.

2. List two groups, organizations, or individuals in favor of net
neutrality. Fairly describe their arguments in favor of net neutrality.

Probably everyone that doesn't have anything to do with one of the big internet companies and that wouldn't make any profit off of restricting the internet supports net neutrality. Tim Berners-Lee (the creator of the internet) is in favor of net neutrality and his argument is that it is like not giving humans their rights. Its like taking away speech. Essentially, they are saying that the big companies want to do this to remove any competition they have. Everyone has the same rights and everyones information is as important as someone else's.

3. List two groups, organizations, or individuals opposed to net
neutrality. Fairly describe their arguments against net neutrality.

Comcast is one of the big companies that is opposed to net neutrality. Their argument is that the content in their websites and services is more important, and therefore they need a higher bandwidth than everyone else does. They say that if other peoples websites and services are so important, than they should pay too. Bob Kahn, one of the internet's co-founders, is against net neutrality. His argument is that with net neutrality there would be no innovation because no big companies would be fighting to have a better product. Companies would take much longer to invent a better service that people would pay better for.

4. What is your opinion on the subject?

I am double sided on the argument of net neutrality, but I am more in favor, especially because it would down-grade my whole internet experience. I don't think that it is fair for companies to be money hungry and ruin their clients' situations. It is true, that innovation would be faster with a controlled internet, but there would be innovation anyways with net neutrality.