ITPEC IP April 2020 Question 12

Two processors on one LSI package, executing separate instructions concurrently — that is a dual-core processor.

Each core is a complete processing unit with its own control and arithmetic circuits. With two cores in one package, the OS can give two threads or programs to the two cores and run them truly at the same time, raising throughput without raising the clock frequency.

Answer (d)

Why not others:

• •(a) — two operating systems on one PC with a choice at start-up is a dual boot (multi-boot) configuration
• •(b) — one wide desktop across two displays is a multi-display (dual monitor) setup
• •(c) — accessing two identical memory modules in parallel to raise the transfer rate is dual-channel memory

Key rule: "Dual" names two of something; a dual-core processor duplicates the processor core itself, and only work that can be split into threads gains from it.

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