100 Supercomputer Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) for Competitive Examinations
Are you preparing for competitive examinations that include questions about supercomputers? Look no further! Our comprehensive collection of 100 Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) on supercomputers covers a wide range of topics, from their history and architecture to their applications in various fields. Test your knowledge and boost your preparation with these MCQs. Get ready to ace your supercomputer-related exams! Get ready to excel in computer-related exams.
- What is the primary function of a supercomputer?
a) Scientific simulations
b) Word processing
c) Graphic design
d) Web browsing - Which organization is credited with developing the first supercomputer?
a) IBM
b) Cray Research
c) Intel
d) NVIDIA - What does the term “FLOPS” stand for in the context of supercomputing?
a) Floating Point Operations Per Second
b) Frames Loaded Over Parallel Systems
c) Frequency of Logical Operations Per Second
d) Fuzzy Logic for Optimized Processing Speed - Which supercomputer architecture is known for its vector processing capabilities?
a) SIMD
b) MIMD
c) SISD
d) MISD - Who is often referred to as the “Father of Supercomputing” for his contributions to early supercomputer design?
a) Seymour Cray
b) Steve Jobs
c) Alan Turing
d) John von Neumann - Which supercomputer operating system is widely used in the HPC (High-Performance Computing) community?
a) Windows
b) Linux
c) macOS
d) Unix - Which supercomputer is famous for its cooling system, which uses a combination of water and refrigerant?
a) IBM Blue Gene
b) Cray XT5
c) Tianhe-2
d) Fujitsu K computer - Which programming language is commonly used for supercomputing applications?
a) Python
b) Java
c) Fortran
d) Ruby - Which of the following is not a benchmark commonly used for supercomputing performance measurement?
a) LINPACK
b) SPEC
c) Geekbench
d) HPL - What is the purpose of a supercomputer’s interconnect or network topology?
a) To connect to the internet
b) To manage power distribution
c) To link multiple processors for communication
d) To cool the system - Which of the following is a supercomputer designed for climate modeling and research?
a) IBM Roadrunner
b) Cray Titan
c) NEC Earth Simulator
d) Fujitsu PRIMEHPC FX100 - In the TOP500 list, what does the term “TOP” refer to?
a) Total Operations Performance
b) Total Operations Performed
c) Topology Optimization Process
d) Theoretical Operations Performance - What is the architecture of a typical supercomputer cluster?
a) Shared-memory
b) Distributed-memory
c) Single-processor
d) Quantum-based - Which supercomputer was the first to achieve a sustained performance of one petaFLOPS (quadrillion floating-point operations per second)?
a) IBM Roadrunner
b) Cray XT5
c) Tianhe-2
d) ASCI Red - Which supercomputer is known for its use in nuclear weapons simulations?
a) IBM Blue Gene
b) Cray XT5
c) Tianhe-2
d) Fujitsu K computer - Which supercomputer is named after the famous Chinese philosopher Laozi?
a) IBM Blue Gene
b) Cray XT5
c) Tianhe-2
d) Fujitsu K computer - Which supercomputer architecture is designed for processing multiple instruction streams simultaneously?
a) SIMD
b) MIMD
c) SISD
d) MISD - What is the purpose of a cooling system in a supercomputer?
a) To keep the room warm
b) To prevent overheating and maintain optimal operating temperature
c) To provide drinking water
d) To reduce noise - What is the name of the supercomputer project developed by the Russian government for military applications?
a) Red Super
b) SKIF
c) Rascom
d) KremlinCore - Which supercomputer is associated with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the United States?
a) IBM Blue Gene
b) Cray XT5
c) Tianhe-2
d) Fujitsu K computer - Which technology is commonly used for cooling supercomputers and servers?
a) Liquid cooling
b) Air cooling
c) Solar cooling
d) Wind cooling - Which of the following supercomputers is designed primarily for AI and deep learning tasks?
a) Summit
b) Tianhe-2
c) Roadrunner
d) Blue Gene - Which organization maintains and updates the TOP500 list of supercomputers?
a) IEEE
b) LINPACK
c) University of California, Berkeley
d) TOP500 - Which supercomputer is known for its use in weather forecasting and climate research?
a) IBM Blue Gene
b) Cray XT5
c) NEC Earth Simulator
d) Fujitsu K computer - What is the purpose of redundancy in supercomputing systems?
a) To increase computational power
b) To provide backup in case of hardware failures
c) To enhance software performance
d) To reduce energy consumption - Which supercomputer manufacturer is known for its iconic T3D and T3E series of machines?
a) IBM
b) Cray Research
c) Sun Microsystems
d) NVIDIA - In supercomputing, what does the term “exascale” refer to?
a) A supercomputer with a processing speed of one exabyte per second
b) A supercomputer with a processing speed of one exaflop per second
c) A supercomputer with a billion cores
d) A supercomputer with exabyte-sized storage - Which supercomputer was the first to use liquid immersion cooling technology?
a) IBM Blue Gene
b) Cray XT5
c) Tianhe-2
d) Aquasar - Which parallel processing architecture is used in graphics processing units (GPUs)?
a) SIMD
b) MIMD
c) SISD
d) MISD - What is the significance of Moore’s Law in the context of supercomputing?
a) It predicts the doubling of supercomputer performance every two years.
b) It sets a limit on the number of transistors in a supercomputer.
c) It regulates the cost of supercomputers.
d) It determines the color of supercomputing components. - Which of the following is an open-source operating system commonly used in supercomputing?
a) Windows
b) macOS
c) Linux
d) Unix - What technology is used to interconnect processors in a supercomputer to enable parallel processing?
a) Ethernet
b) InfiniBand
c) USB
d) Bluetooth - Which of the following is not a supercomputer manufacturer or designer?
a) Intel
b) Cray
c) Fujitsu
d) NVIDIA - Which supercomputer is known for its modular design and scalability, allowing for easy expansion?
a) IBM Blue Gene
b) Cray XT5
c) Tianhe-2
d) Sunway TaihuLight - What is the primary factor that limits the size and power of supercomputers?
a) Cost
b) Available space
c) Cooling technology
d) Energy consumption - Which programming model is commonly used for supercomputing tasks that require parallelism?
a) Sequential programming
b) Multithreading
c) Message passing
d) Event-driven programming - Which of the following is a supercomputer designed for quantum computing research?
a) Summit
b) Tianhe-2
c) Roadrunner
d) Blue Gene - What is the main drawback of liquid immersion cooling in supercomputers?
a) It is less efficient than air cooling.
b) It is expensive and difficult to maintain.
c) It poses a risk of electrical shorts and corrosion.
d) It is not effective in cooling high-performance components. - Which supercomputer is known for its use in life sciences and bioinformatics research?
a) IBM Blue Gene
b) Cray XT5
c) Tianhe-2
d) Fujitsu K computer - What is the term for a supercomputer’s ability to continue functioning in the event of hardware failures?
a) Redundancy
b) Reprogramming
c) Overclocking
d) Parallelism - Which supercomputer manufacturer is known for its Blue Gene series, focused on biological and medical research?
a) IBM
b) Cray Research
c) Fujitsu
d) NVIDIA - Which of the following is a supercomputer designed for nuclear simulations and stockpile stewardship?
a) Summit
b) Tianhe-2
c) Roadrunner
d) Blue Gene - What technology is used for cooling in the Fujitsu K computer?
a) Liquid immersion cooling
b) Air cooling
c) Water cooling
d) Cryogenic cooling - In the context of supercomputing, what does “RISC” stand for?
a) Reduced Instruction Set Computer
b) Random Integrated Supercomputer Chip
c) Redundant Information Storage Cluster
d) Reliable In-System Configuration - Which of the following supercomputers is known for its use in cryptography and cybersecurity research?
a) IBM Blue Gene
b) Cray XT5
c) Tianhe-2
d) Fujitsu K computer - Which supercomputer was the first to break the petaFLOPS barrier in 2008?
a) IBM Roadrunner
b) Cray XT5
c) Tianhe-2
d) ASCI Red - What technology is commonly used for supercomputer interconnects to reduce latency and improve communication?
a) Gigabit Ethernet
b) Fiber optics
c) Coaxial cables
d) Bluetooth - Which of the following is a metric used to measure energy efficiency in supercomputers?
a) SPEC
b) Green500
c) HPL
d) TOP500 - Which of the following components is critical for supercomputers designed for quantum computing?
a) CPUs
b) GPUs
c) Qubits
d) RAM - What is the primary use of supercomputers in the field of computational chemistry?
a) Drug discovery and molecular modeling
b) Web development
c) Video editing
d) Cryptocurrency mining - What supercomputer is associated with the Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories?
a) IBM Blue Gene
b) Cray XT5
c) Roadrunner
d) Sunway TaihuLight - Which of the following supercomputers is known for its use in space and astrophysics research?
a) IBM Blue Gene
b) Cray XT5
c) NEC Earth Simulator
d) Fujitsu K computer - What is the primary goal of supercomputers used in molecular dynamics simulations?
a) Modeling the behavior of particles and molecules
b) Playing video games
c) Solving crossword puzzles
d) Processing financial transactions - Which supercomputer is associated with the National Supercomputing Center in Wuxi, China?
a) IBM Blue Gene
b) Cray XT5
c) Tianhe-2
d) Fujitsu K computer - What technology is used to accelerate machine learning and AI workloads in supercomputers?
a) Quantum computing
b) Deep learning algorithms
c) GPUs
d) DNA computing - Which organization developed and maintains the LINPACK benchmark used to rank supercomputers?
a) IEEE
b) NASA
c) The University of Tennessee
d) IBM - What is the primary use of supercomputers in the field of computational fluid dynamics (CFD)?
a) Simulating fluid flow and heat transfer
b) Analyzing stock market data
c) Running e-commerce websites
d) Playing online games - Which supercomputer architecture is designed for executing a single instruction across multiple data elements?
a) SIMD
b) MIMD
c) SISD
d) MISD - Which of the following supercomputers is known for its use in energy research and materials science?
a) IBM Blue Gene
b) Cray XT5
c) Tianhe-2
d) Sunway TaihuLight - What is the primary advantage of using parallel processing in supercomputing?
a) Faster processing of complex tasks
b) Lower power consumption
c) Easier maintenance
d) Reduced hardware costs - Which of the following is a supercomputer designed for climate modeling and atmospheric research?
a) IBM Blue Gene
b) Cray XT5
c) NEC Earth Simulator
d) Fujitsu K computer - What technology is used to create a fault-tolerant system in supercomputing?
a) Redundancy
b) Liquid cooling
c) Quantum computing
d) Artificial intelligence - What is the primary use of supercomputers in the field of computational biology?
a) Genomic sequencing and protein folding simulations
b) Architectural design
c) Social media analytics
d) Weather forecasting - What is the primary function of a cooling tower in a supercomputer data center?
a) Cooling the water used for liquid cooling systems
b) Providing backup power
c) Storing data
d) Hosting web applications - Which supercomputer is known for its use in simulating nuclear explosions for scientific research?
a) IBM Blue Gene
b) Cray XT5
c) Tianhe-2
d) Fujitsu K computer - Which programming language is often used for high-performance computing (HPC) applications, especially in scientific and engineering fields?
a) Python
b) C++
c) JavaScript
d) Swift - Which of the following is not a supercomputer manufacturer?
a) Lenovo
b) Hewlett-Packard
c) Microsoft
d) Dell - Which supercomputer is known for its use in particle physics research at CERN?
a) IBM Blue Gene
b) Cray XT5
c) Tianhe-2
d) Fujitsu K computer - What technology is used to enhance the reliability and performance of supercomputer storage systems?
a) SSDs (Solid-State Drives)
b) Hard disk drives
c) Tape drives
d) Optical drives - What is the primary use of supercomputers in the field of computational finance?
a) Risk analysis and complex financial modeling
b) Music production
c) Video streaming
d) Social networking - What is the primary purpose of benchmarking in supercomputing?
a) To compare and evaluate the performance of different systems
b) To create artistic designs
c) To test the durability of hardware
d) To measure the quality of software code - Which supercomputer is known for its use in simulating earthquakes and seismic research?
a) IBM Blue Gene
b) Cray XT5
c) NEC Earth Simulator
d) Fujitsu K computer - What technology is commonly used for supercomputer data storage, offering high capacity and reliability?
a) Hard disk drives (HDDs)
b) SSDs (Solid-State Drives)
c) Floppy disks
d) Magnetic tapes - Which supercomputer is associated with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories?
a) IBM Blue Gene
b) Cray XT5
c) Roadrunner
d) Sunway TaihuLight - What is the primary use of supercomputers in the field of astrophysics?
a) Simulating the behavior of celestial bodies
b) 3D animation rendering
c) E-commerce transactions
d) Social media posting - Which of the following is not a supercomputer cooling method?
a) Air cooling
b) Water cooling
c) Solar cooling
d) Liquid immersion cooling - Which supercomputer is known for its use in molecular dynamics simulations and drug discovery?
a) IBM Blue Gene
b) Cray XT5
c) Tianhe-2
d) Fujitsu K computer - What technology is used for supercomputer storage that provides high-speed data access and is commonly used in conjunction with HDDs?
a) Flash memory
b) CD-ROMs
c) Magnetic tapes
d) Floppy disks - What is the primary use of supercomputers in the field of nuclear physics?
a) Simulating nuclear reactions and particle interactions
b) Video game development
c) Email communication
d) Website hosting - Which of the following is not a common interconnect technology used in supercomputing clusters?
a) Ethernet
b) InfiniBand
c) Myrinet
d) Wi-Fi - Which supercomputer is known for its use in studying the behavior of earthquakes and tsunamis?
a) IBM Blue Gene
b) Cray XT5
c) NEC Earth Simulator
d) Fujitsu K computer - What is the primary use of supercomputers in the field of computational physics?
a) Simulating physical phenomena and solving complex equations
b) Streaming music and videos
c) Online shopping
d) Social media sharing - Which supercomputer is known for its use in simulating the behavior of fluids and gases in aerospace and automotive industries?
a) IBM Blue Gene
b) Cray XT5
c) Tianhe-2
d) Fujitsu K computer - What technology is used for supercomputer interconnects to achieve low-latency communication between processors?
a) Fiber optics
b) Coaxial cables
c) Twisted-pair cables
d) Satellite links - Which of the following is a supercomputer designed for studying plasma physics and fusion research?
a) IBM Blue Gene
b) Cray XT5
c) Tianhe-2
d) Wendelstein 7-X - What is the primary use of supercomputers in the field of computational aeronautics?
a) Simulating aerodynamic behavior of aircraft
b) Online dating
c) Social networking
d) Cryptocurrency mining - Which supercomputer is known for its use in materials science, chemistry, and physics simulations?
a) IBM Blue Gene
b) Cray XT5
c) Tianhe-2
d) Fujitsu K computer - What technology is commonly used for supercomputer storage that offers the highest data capacity and long-term archival storage?
a) Magnetic tapes
b) SSDs (Solid-State Drives)
c) Hard disk drives (HDDs)
d) Optical drives - What is the primary use of supercomputers in the field of computational seismology?
a) Simulating seismic waves and earthquake behavior
b) Streaming movies
c) Online gaming
d) Social media updates - Which of the following is not a commonly used parallel programming model in supercomputing?
a) OpenMP
b) CUDA
c) C#
d) MPI - Which supercomputer is known for its use in high-energy physics research and the study of subatomic particles?
a) IBM Blue Gene
b) Cray XT5
c) Roadrunner
d) Sunway TaihuLight - What is the primary use of supercomputers in the field of climate modeling?
a) Simulating climate patterns and predicting climate change
b) Hosting online forums
c) Online shopping
d) Web development - Which technology is used to connect multiple supercomputers or data centers to form a high-performance computing cluster?
a) High-speed internet
b) Optical fiber
c) Twisted-pair cables
d) Copper wires - Which of the following is a supercomputer designed for oceanography and marine science research?
a) IBM Blue Gene
b) Cray XT5
c) NEC Earth Simulator
d) Fujitsu K computer - What is the primary use of supercomputers in the field of computational geophysics?
a) Simulating geophysical processes and subsurface imaging
b) Online blogging
c) Social media updates
d) Online advertising - Which supercomputer is known for its use in particle and nuclear physics experiments at Fermilab?
a) IBM Blue Gene
b) Cray XT5
c) Tianhe-2
d) Fujitsu K computer - What technology is commonly used for interconnecting multiple racks of supercomputers within a data center?
a) Ethernet
b) InfiniBand
c) Wi-Fi
d) DSL - What is the primary use of supercomputers in the field of computational ecology?
a) Modeling ecosystems and biodiversity
b) Creating social media content
c) Playing video games
d) E-commerce transactions - Which of the following is a supercomputer designed for nuclear fusion research at ITER?
a) IBM Blue Gene
b) Cray XT5
c) Tianhe-2
d) Wendelstein 7-X - What technology is used for supercomputer interconnects to enable high-speed data transfers and low-latency communication?
a) InfiniBand
b) Dial-up modem
c) ISDN
d) Token Ring
Here are the answers to the multiple-choice questions on supercomputers:
- a) Scientific simulations
- b) Cray Research
- a) Floating Point Operations Per Second
- a) SIMD
- a) Seymour Cray
- b) Linux
- a) IBM Blue Gene
- c) Fortran
- c) Geekbench
- c) To link multiple processors for communication
- c) NEC Earth Simulator
- d) Theoretical Operations Performance
- b) Distributed-memory
- a) IBM Roadrunner
- a) IBM Blue Gene
- c) Tianhe-2
- a) SIMD
- b) To prevent overheating and maintain optimal operating temperature
- b) SKIF
- a) IBM Blue Gene
- a) Liquid cooling
- a) Summit
- d) TOP500
- c) NEC Earth Simulator
- b) To provide backup in case of hardware failures
- b) Cray Research
- b) A supercomputer with a processing speed of one exaflop per second
- d) Aquasar
- a) SIMD
- a) It predicts the doubling of supercomputer performance every two years.
- c) Linux
- b) InfiniBand
- c) Microsoft
- d) Sunway TaihuLight
- a) Cost
- c) Message passing
- a) Summit
- c) It poses a risk of electrical shorts and corrosion.
- a) IBM Blue Gene
- a) Redundancy
- a) IBM
- c) Roadrunner
- a) Liquid immersion cooling
- a) Reduced Instruction Set Computer
- a) IBM Blue Gene
- a) IBM Roadrunner
- b) Fiber optics
- b) Green500
- c) Qubits
- a) Drug discovery and molecular modeling
- c) Roadrunner
- c) NEC Earth Simulator
- a) Modeling the behavior of particles and molecules
- c) Tianhe-2
- c) GPUs
- c) The University of Tennessee
- a) Simulating fluid flow and heat transfer
- a) SIMD
- a) Sunway TaihuLight
- a) Faster processing of complex tasks
- c) NEC Earth Simulator
- a) Redundancy
- a) Genomic sequencing and protein folding simulations
- a) Cooling the water used for liquid cooling systems
- a) IBM Blue Gene
- b) C++
- c) Microsoft
- a) IBM Blue Gene
- a) SSDs (Solid-State Drives)
- a) Risk analysis and complex financial modeling
- a) To compare and evaluate the performance of different systems
- c) NEC Earth Simulator
- a) Hard disk drives (HDDs)
- c) Roadrunner
- a) Simulating the behavior of celestial bodies
- c) Solar cooling
- a) Flash memory
- a) Genomic sequencing and protein folding simulations
- a) Simulating nuclear reactions and particle interactions
- a) Ethernet
- a) Simulating seismic waves and earthquake behavior
- a) Simulating physical phenomena and solving complex equations
- a) Simulating the behavior of fluids and gases in aerospace and automotive industries
- b) Coaxial cables
- a) Simulating plasma physics and fusion research
- a) Simulating aerodynamic behavior of aircraft
- a) IBM Blue Gene
- a) Magnetic tapes
- a) Simulating geophysical processes and subsurface imaging
- c) C#
- c) Roadrunner
- a) Simulating climate patterns and predicting climate change
- b) Optical fiber
- c) NEC Earth Simulator
- a) Simulating geophysical processes and subsurface imaging
- c) Tianhe-2
- a) Ethernet
- a) Modeling ecosystems and biodiversity
- d) Wendelstein 7-X
- a) InfiniBand