Assignment #1 Why do you want to major in CS?

Due: Sunday, 10/04/15, 11:59pm (80 pts) Why you want to be a computer science major! Some of you know exactly why you want to major in computer science and what kind of job you want to have when you get out into the “real world”, some of you have a vague idea of why you might want to major in CS, and others have the “sounds cool” feeling about the major Any of the reasons are neither right nor wrong, just different. In fact, for many of you, you will travel an unintended path within CS, and for the rest of you, you need to start thinking about WHY you think CS “sounds cool” In this assignment, you will explain what you want to do with your computer science degree, and why. You are required to research at least 3 companies or areas of computer science to help determine your choice. You are allowed to include conversations/ interviews as references, but you must include some additional articles or websites that help solidify your choice in this computer science area. For instance, there are many of you who pick computer science as a major and want to be a programmer because an influential family member is a computer scientist, and even though conversations with this person influenced your decision to be a programmer, you need to have some other information/references that support your decision. Make sure to explicitly state WHAT you want to do with your computer science degree. It is okay to be unsure and have several areas in CS that excite you, but you need references that helped you better understand this area. Your reason for picking some area in CS is possibly due to a person, and you can use interactions/conversations with this person as a reason for choosing the area. However, I think it will benefit you to think of other reasons WHY you are choosing this area. For your 5 citations in this section, you will use the IEEE format commonly used in computer science:

http://www.ieee.org/documents/ieeecitationref.pdf https://wiki.engr.illinois.edu/download/attachments/31394450/IEEE-refguide.pdf (You can find many more references to the IEEE standard on the Internet).

(20 pts) Binary Problems:

Convert the following numbers from binary to decimal: 1010, 10110

Convert the following numbers from decimal to binary: 23, 34

How many numbers can be represented in 16 bits?

In a signed system, what is the range of positive and negative numbers that can be represented in 16 bits?

In an unsigned system, what is the range of positive numbers that can be represented in 16 bits?

Paper Requirements:

References: >=5

Font: Times New Roman, 12 pt, 1” margins

Spacing: Single

Pages: 2+

Make copy as .pdf for submission

Electronically submit your document as a pdf by the assignment due date, using TEACH: https://secure.engr.oregonstate.edu:8000/teach.php?type=want_auth