QWERTY

Part A 40 minutes calculator allowed (no qwerty keyboards). Any programmable or graphing calculator may be used and you will not be required to erase the calculator memories before or after the examination. Questions require mathematical computations. It is essential that you show all steps in solving mathematical problems since partial credit is awarded in each problem for showing how the answer was obtained. 

A. Be sure to take your admission ticket, some form of photo and signature identification, your social security number, several sharpened No. 2 pencils, a good eraser, a watch, and a scientific calculator with fresh batteries. You may bring a programmable calculator (it will not be erased or cleared), but it must not have a typewriter-style (qwerty) keyboard. You may use the calculator only in Section II, Part A. 

David, P. A. 1985. Clio and the economics of QWERTY. American Economic Review, 75 332-337. 

In the development of technologies there is often a phase when lots of different possibilities are open, but after a while one particular type becomes dominant and other options are not realistically available because the costs of switching to them are too high once everyone has adopted the dominant option. The classic case of this technological lock-in is the qwerty keyboard — the keyboard layout that has now become standard, even though one could type faster on alternative layouts (once one had learned to use them). Other examples are the VHS video recorder, which won the marketing war over the technically superior Sony... 

The keyboard layout can be the same as that of a conventional typewriter, that is, the QWERTY design, or some other proven style, such as the DVORAK layout. However, it can be very difficult for operators to switch between keyboards with different layouts. Traditional keyboard layout has straight rows and staggered columns. Some authors have proposed curving the rows to provide a better fit for the hand to reduce biomechanical loading on the fingers (Kroemer 1972). However,... 

Do you recognize the word QWERTY Look at the keyboard of your computer, upper left — see it Why do (almost) all computers, at least... 

Of course, jamming of the mechanical arms is not an issue for modern computers, but QWERTY layout is still by far the most common. Furthermore, August Dvorak, a professor of education in Seattle, showed already in 1940s that even a randomly reshuffled keyboard will most likely be more convenient for the typist s hands than QWERTY... But QWERTY still survives. Why ... 

In preparation for the current edition we received a lot of help from Dr. Artem A. Aerov. He edited the whole text, again hltering out our lapses, and helped us in many other ways, in particular, he wrote the section on QWERTY in Chapter 14. 

QWERTY keyboard (Christopher Latham Sholes) After patenting the first practical typewriter, Sholes develops the (QWERTY keyboard, designed to slow the fastest typists, who otherwise jammed the keys. The basic QWERTY design remains the standard on most computer keyboards. 

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