Moore’s law: The speed of a computer chip is closely related to the number of transistors on the chip, and the number of transistors on a chip has increased with time in a remarkably consistent way. In fact, in the year 1965 Dr. Gordon E. Moore (now chairman emeritus of Intel Corporation) observed a trend and predicted that it would continue for a time. His observation, now known as Moore’s law, is that every two years or so a chip is introduced with double the number of transistors of its fastest predecessor. This law can be restated28 in the following way: If time increases by 1 year, then the number of transistors is multiplied by 100.15. More generally, the rule is that if time increases by t years, then the number of transistors is multiplied by 100.15t . For example, after 8 years the number of transistors is multiplied by 100.15×8, or about 16. The Dual-Core Itanium 2 processor was introduced by Intel Corporation in the year 2006. ➞
a. If a chip were introduced in the year 2013, how many times the transistors of the Dual-Core Itanium 2 would you expect it to have? Round your answer to the nearest whole number.
b. The limit of conventional computing will be reached when the size of a transistor is on the scale of an atom. At that point the number of transistors on a chip will be 1000 times that of the Dual-Core Itanium 2. When, according to Moore’s law, will that limit be reached?
c. Even for unconventional computing, the laws of physics impose a limit on the speed of computation.29 The fastest speed possible corresponds to having about 1040 times the number of transistors as on the Dual-Core Itanium 2. Assume that Moore’s law will continue to be valid even for unconventional computing, and determine when this limit will be reached. Round your answer to the nearest century.