What is the byte capacity of a drum which is 5 inch high, 10 inch diam...
To calculate the byte capacity of a drum, we need to consider the given dimensions, track density, and bit density.
Given:
Height of the drum (H) = 5 inches
Diameter of the drum (D) = 10 inches
Tracks per inch (TPI) = 60
Bit density (BD) = 800 bits per inch
To calculate the byte capacity, we need to determine the total number of bits that can be stored on the drum and then convert it to bytes.
First, we calculate the circumference of the drum:
Circumference = π * D
Circumference = 3.14159 x 10 inches
Circumference ≈ 31.4159 inches
Next, we calculate the total number of bits that can be stored on one track:
Bits per track = Circumference x BD
Bits per track = 31.4159 inches x 800 bits per inch
Bits per track ≈ 25,132 bits
Now, we calculate the total number of tracks on the drum:
Total tracks = Height x TPI
Total tracks = 5 inches * 60 tracks per inch
Total tracks = 300 tracks
Finally, we calculate the total number of bits that can be stored on the drum:
Total bits = Total tracks x Bits per track
Total bits = 300 tracks x 25,132 bits
Total bits = 7,539,600 bits
To convert the total bits to bytes, we divide by 8 (since there are 8 bits in a byte):
Total bytes = Total bits / 8
Total bytes = 7,539,600 bits / 8
Total bytes ≈ 942,450 bytes
Therefore, the byte capacity of the drum is approximately 942,450 bytes, which corresponds to option (A).