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          Most scientists define intelligence as the ability to learn, understand and analyze things, accompanied by a good memory and imagination. This implies that intelligence is a mixture of several abilities. We know that intelligence level differs from person to person depending upon the aforesaid traits. But can we measure intelligence so that the difference level can be clearly established? Till today neither the above definition of intelligence has been universally accepted nor do the various tests to measure it have a common appeal. In spite of the difficulties, there is one way widely used to measure intelligence — the Intelligence Quotient (IQ) test. But what is IQ?

          ‘IQ’ is the abbreviation of a psychological phenomenon called ‘Intelligence Quotient’. It is expressed in a number. The IQ of an individual is obtained by dividing his mental age (it is determined by the performance on a standardized intelligence test) by his chronological age and multiplying the result by 100.

          The mental age of an individual is determined with the help of different tests. Persons are classified under different categories depending on their IQ scores. 

          At one time, many psychologists believed that everyone had some degree of inborn intelligence. It was also believed that intelligence was a natural trait like blue eyes, sharp nose etc. and could be ascertained in a single test. But a French psychologist, Alfred Binet, exploded this myth. He worked over this problem in an attempt to develop a test that would help to distinguish between intelligent and dull children. His first tests were given to some French school children in 1905. Later in 1915, these tests were adopted by the German psychologist William Stern and US psychologist Lewis Terman.

          Many psychologists believe that these intelligence tests are not the true indicators of one’s intelligence level and therefore do not give a complete picture of the factors that make up intelligence. For example, some tests measure what one has learnt but not how quickly he has learnt. We know that the grasping power of different people is different. They differ in their ability to understand and remember ideas.

          They also differ in the use of their knowledge and earlier experiences to solve problems. Hence till today there is no fully accepted definition of intelligence.

          It has been, however, concluded that intelligence mainly depends on heredity and the environment. Every person is born with a certain mental ability. The development of that ability may be activated or slowed down by his or her background. The socialization process which includes the environment plays a major role in shaping one’s intelligence. A child becomes a quick learner in areas which he experiences and observes in his day-to-day life. A child who is constantly ridiculed or beaten may develop a complex due to which he or she may not be able to develop his or her intellectual abilities fully. Many children who face discrimination because of race or physical defects fail to develop their mental abilities well. From these facts, it is clear that intelligence is not a natural trait like blue eyes. There is not a single trait that can be called intelligence, nor any single factor which determines it. 

          Most scientists define intelligence as the ability to learn, understand and analyze things, accompanied by a good memory and imagination. This implies that intelligence is a mixture of several abilities. We know that intelligence level differs from person to person depending upon the aforesaid traits. But can we measure intelligence so that the difference level can be clearly established? Till today neither the above definition of intelligence has been universally accepted nor do the various tests to measure it have a common appeal. In spite of the difficulties, there is one way widely used to measure intelligence — the Intelligence Quotient (IQ) test. But what is IQ? 

          ‘IQ’ is the abbreviation of a psychological phenomenon called ‘Intelligence Quotient’. It is expressed in a number. The IQ of an individual is obtained by dividing his mental age (it is determined by the performance on a standardized intelligence test) by his chronological age and multiplying the result by 100.

          The mental age of an individual is determined with the help of different tests. Persons are classified under different categories depending on their IQ scores.

          At one time, many psychologists believed that everyone had some degree of inborn intelligence. It was also believed that intelligence was a natural trait like blue eyes, sharp nose etc. and could be ascertained in a single test. But a French psychologist, Alfred Binet, exploded this myth. He worked over this problem in an attempt to develop a test that would help to distinguish between intelligent and dull children. His first tests were given to some French school children in 1905. Later in 1915, these tests were adopted by the German psychologist William Stern and US psychologist Lewis Terman. 

Continue reading "How can we measure IQ?"

          Most scientists define intelligence as the ability to learn, understand and analyze things, accompanied by a good memory and imagination. This implies that intelligence is a mixture of several abilities. We know that intelligence level differs from person to person depending upon the aforesaid traits. But can we measure intelligence so that the difference level can be clearly established? Till today neither the above definition of intelligence has been universally accepted nor do the various tests to measure it have a common appeal. In spite of the difficulties, there is one way widely used to measure intelligence — the Intelligence Quotient (IQ) test. But what is IQ?

          ‘IQ’ is the abbreviation of a psychological phenomenon called ‘Intelligence Quotient’. It is expressed in a number. The IQ of an individual is obtained by dividing his mental age (it is determined by the performance on a standardized intelligence test) by his chronological age and multiplying the result by 100. 

          The mental age of an individual is determined with the help of different tests. Persons are classified under different categories depending on their IQ scores.

          At one time, many psychologists believed that everyone had some degree of inborn intelligence. It was also believed that intelligence was a natural trait like blue eyes, sharp nose etc. and could be ascertained in a single test. But a French psychologist, Alfred Binet, exploded this myth. He worked over this problem in an attempt to develop a test that would help to distinguish between intelligent and dull children. His first tests were given to some French school children in 1905. Later in 1915, these tests were adopted by the German psychologist William Stern and US psychologist Lewis Terman.

          Many psychologists believe that these intelligence tests are not the true indicators of one’s intelligence level and therefore do not give a complete picture of the factors that make up intelligence. For example, some tests measure what one has learnt but not how quickly he has learnt. We know that the grasping power of different people is different. They differ in their ability to understand and remember ideas.

          They also differ in the use of their knowledge and earlier experiences to solve problems. Hence till today there is no fully accepted definition of intelligence.

          It has been, however, concluded that intelligence mainly depends on heredity and the environment. Every person is born with a certain mental ability. The development of that ability may be activated or slowed down by his or her background. The socialization process which includes the environment plays a major role in shaping one’s intelligence. A child becomes a quick learner in areas which he experiences and observes in his day-to-day life. A child who is constantly ridiculed or beaten may develop a complex due to which he or she may not be able to develop his or her intellectual abilities fully. Many children who face discrimination because of race or physical defects fail to develop their mental abilities well. From these facts, it is clear that intelligence is not a natural trait like blue eyes. There is not a single trait that can be called intelligence, nor any single factor which determines it.

 

          A calculator is a device that can do arithmetic calculations with accuracy and speed. They are mainly of two types: mechanical and electronic. Electronic calculators have almost replaced the mechanical type due to their technological superiority, better speed and accuracy. 

          The working principle of calculators went through a continuous process of modification and improvisation. To trace its history, the abacus is considered to be the first calculating machine. It was an oblong frame holding wires on which beads were strung and calculation was done by sliding the beads along the wires. The first mechanical calculator was built in 1623 by Wilhelm Schickard in Germany. A better and more famous one was made by Blaise Pascal in 1642 and ‘Arithnometer’ was the first calculator to go on side, invented by Charles Thomas in 1820. Mechanical calculators had gearwheels inside them and to do the calculations, a handle connected to the gearwheels had to be wound many times. Their disadvantages were that they were large, heavy, slow and prone to breakdown after heavy use. They are no longer manufactured though still in use at a few places.

          The advent of electronic calculators in 1963 was a result of the electronic revolution when the first electronic calculator was produced by the British Bell Punch Company. In fact a calculator developed by Charles Babbage in 1832 is considered to be the forerunner of computer. The electronic calculators use tiny electronic circuit to perform basic arithmetic calculations and some of them can even perform complex calculations involving trigonometry and calculus. The first electronic calculator used thousands of discrete transistors in its circuitry and brought an end of the era of mechanical calculators. The introduction of integrated circuits by Fairchild and Texas Instruments was another milestone in the history of calculators. An integrated circuit contains the equivalent of many thousands of transistors and their associated components and is built up from a single chip of silicon as small as 0.3 sq. cm. This helped in the manufacture of cheap and portable calculators. Most electronic calculators have a memory to store information. 

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          Over the last few years computers have invaded almost all spheres of our life by increasingly playing a bigger and bigger role in various ways. The computer revolution got a major shock when computer viruses intruded into the computer and started spoiling the system. The basic purpose of a computer virus was to damage the programs in the computer and spoil the operational mechanism. But do you know what a computer virus is?

          A computer virus is a program that in one way or other infects other programs by either modifying or destroying them and it also spreads or propagates or has the potential to do so. A computer virus has at least the following four characteristics: 

1) It is a set of computer instructions, 2) It is deliberately created, 3) It propagates using host programs 4) It does undesirable things like causing damage or spoiling the operational mechanism. 

          From the above information it is implied that computer viruses are deliberately created software programs and should not be misunderstood as programming errors or hardware malfunctions. The virus engages itself in doing unwanted things like deleting files, formatting disk, changing the keyboard input etc.

          There are different types of computer viruses with different objectives but they can be broadly classified into two types:

1) Resident viruses, 2) Non-resident viruses

          Resident viruses are those which on execution install their code in memory and infect other programs or discs from there. On the other hand non-resident viruses do not install themselves in memory but spread when an infected program is run.

          There are four distinct phases of infection by a computer virus. They are: 1) The dormant phase, 2) The propagation phase, 3) The triggering phase, 4) The action phase. 

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