Sat, 24 Sep 2011, 22:22

Greetings from Taipei, where I am sitting on the balcony outside my 
hotel room, overlooking the Taipei skyline, but not looking at it (or,
preparing my talk for tomorrow) since I am answering 306 student email.

I know - no one feels sorry for me!  

This one is quick, and a couple of students did not read the question 
carefully, so I thought I would send it to all of you to allay any anguish 
over the wording of problem 5 on the current problem set.

A student writes:

> Hey Dr. Patt, 

Hey, Mr. Student,

> This is ****************** from ee306. This may be a stupid question 
> but why is the location which is being read in figure 3.22 of the book 
> known as location 3? 

Answer: because it is accessed when the address bits are 11, and 11 is the
unsigned binary number 3.

> On the #5 of the problem set is asks us to read location 4 but I don't 
> know where that is since the bottom location is known as location 3 in 
> the book.
> 
> Thanks,
> <<name withheld to protect the student who did not read the question carefully>>


Please read the question again.  Does it ask you to read location 4?
If you read it carefully, I think you will agree that it is asking you to
read the location whose address is 3.

I agree that the wording could have been more carefully done so that you
would not have made a mistake even though you did not read the question 
carefully.  We will try very hard to not let that happen on the exam.  
Please help by reading the questions carefully.

Good luck with the rest of the problem set and the exam.  Also, please check
with a TA first when you have a question.  I may not be able to get to email
as quickly as I like to.

Yale Patt