How Many Memory Chips and What Decoder is Needed for a 256k x 8 Setup?

[mathrocks]

Computer engineering question--digital logic..

In my computer engineering class I was asked to find "How many memory chips are available and how many I need for a 256k x 8 and also what kind of decoder is needed" This is more of a digital logic question but there isn't another section on this forum for those types of questions.. Any help would be greatly appreciated. And if you know how to do it please explain how you got it...

 

[TenaliRaman]

this is prolly a bit late and prolly u might have even solved this,
and if not,
are the memory chips size given?
if yes,
then for the question u need to,
divide 256k x 8 by the memory chip size
decoder will depend on the "number of memory chip size" we get.

-- AI

 

[ravenprp]

To answer this question, we need to understand the basics of digital logic and binary numbers. In digital logic, a memory chip is a device that stores binary data, which is represented by 0s and 1s. The size of a memory chip is typically measured in bits (binary digits), and it can store a certain number of bits of data.

In this case, we are dealing with a 256k x 8 memory chip. This means that the chip can store 256 kilobits (256,000 bits) of data, and each data word is 8 bits long. Therefore, the total number of data words that can be stored in this memory chip is 256,000 / 8 = 32,000.

Now, we need to determine how many memory chips are needed to store this amount of data. Since each chip can store 32,000 data words, we can divide the total number of data words (32,000) by the number of data words per chip (32,000 / 32,000 = 1). This means that only one memory chip is needed to store 256k x 8 data.

As for the type of decoder needed, we need to understand that a decoder is a digital logic circuit that converts a binary code into a specific output. In this case, we need a decoder that can convert a 16-bit binary number (256k = 2^16) into a 32,000-bit output (32,000 = 2^15 * 8). This can be achieved using a 16-to-32,000 decoder, which is a type of decoder that can convert a 16-bit input into a 32,000-bit output.

In summary, to store 256k x 8 data, we need one 256k x 8 memory chip and a 16-to-32,000 decoder. I hope this explanation helps you better understand how to approach digital logic problems.