Blog #2 - Ethan Poll - Moore's Law

b)     Moore’s law is the observation that on average, the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit doubles every two years. The table shows the number of transistors in Intel processors from 1971 to 1999. The general trend of the table seems to corroborate with Moore’s Law. How quickly is the number of transistors in a processor increasing in 1989?

c)

Year	# of Transistors
1971	2,300
1974	4,500
1978	29,000
1982	134,000
1985	275,000
1989	1,200,000
1993	3,100,000
1995	5,500,000
1997	7,500,000
1999	9,500,000

d)

e)     I want to know the rate of change at (1989, 1,200,000). The three points I will use for the secant lines are (1993, 3,100,000), (1995, 5,500,000) and (1997, 7,500,000). 

Using slope formula Y2 - Y1 / X2 - X1

(1989, 1,200,000) to (1993, 3,100,000): Average Rate of Change: 475,000 transistors per year.

(1989, 1,200,000) to (1995, 5,500,000): ARC: 716,667 transistors per year.

(1989, 1,200,000) to (1997, 7,500,000): ARC: 787,500 transistors per year.

     As the year increases, so does the ARC. This would mean that the rate of change is increasing as the years go on, which supports Moore’s Law. As the points get closer to 1989, the ARC decreases and gets closer to the instantaneous rate of change (IRC) of that point.

f)

 

 

g)      There is another point on the tangent line approximately at (1993, 2,500,000). This will be point Q. 
From the two points (1989, 1,200,000) and (1993, 2,500,000), the slope is  325,000 transistors per year. This is the instantaneous rate of change, or the slope specifically at the chosen point. In this case, this means that in 1989, the number of transistors in a processor was increasing at a rate of 325,000 transistors per year.

h)     The rate of change between the years calculated in part e got smaller as they approached 1989. This would mean that they are getting closer to the IRC in 1989. The tangent line is just like the secant lines, but it just touches the point. It shows the slope/IRC at that point.