Question 1: Describes the "typical computer in 2001" as 1.5GHz processor, 100 Mb main memory and 40 Gb disk. (and in 2nd ed.) the "typical computer in 2008" as 2 processors of 3GHz , 1 Gb main memory and 250 Gb disk. Moore's law says that these numbers double every 18 months I bought my first computer, a low-end PC, in June 1987 (for $1600). It had a 7MHz processor, 640 Kb main memory, and a 20 Mb disk.
Question 2: What is the "typical" PC today (2012)? Look at some current ads. How closely do these 4 computers follow Moore's Law? (Could the Stanford professors be thinking of a fancier "typical" computer?)
Question 3: What will the typical computer be like in 2017? ( based on your answer #1.) How far off was Commander Data's boast of a "12 teraops" processor speed, assuming Moore's Law would hold for 300 years?
Question 4: (Probably unrealistic, as any exponential growth is bound to have limits, for instance it is hard to see how the storage of a single bit could be accomplished using anything less than the presence or absence of a single electron.)
Another way to solve this question is, when will the "typical" computer have processor speed of 12 THz (211 times the "typical 2008" computer.)
Solve all the parts of this question and provides the examples.