Question

IBM has a fast computer that it calls the Blue Gene/L that can do '136.8

Answer 1

Answer:

138.6 megacalculations

Explanation:

This is a pretty straightforward one.

All it needs is to convert the degree of measurement.

Dimensions in physics are attributed names, which state the power to which they're are raised. Just as how

Kilo and Mega means the numbers are raised to the power of 3 and 6 respectively. There also exists the ones that indicates how small, such as milli and micro, which are to the powers of -3 & -6.

The question says the IBM computer calculates at an astonishing 136.8 teracalculations.

Tera in physics means it's raised to the power of 12. Thus, the IBM calculates at an astonishing rate of

136.8*10^12 calculations per second.

We're then asked how many calculations it does in 1 micro second. Like I had highlighted earlier, 1 micro second is 1 raised to the power of -6. Or succinctly put,

1 micro second = 1*10^-6.

If the IBM does

138.6*10^12 = 1 second,

Then it does

x = 1*10^-6 second.

When we cross multiply, we have

138.6*10^12 * 1*10^-6, and that is

138.6*10^6 calculations, or say, 138.6 megacalculations.

The IBM does 138.6 megacalculations in 1 micro second, which is still astonishing, by the way