Final answer:
Answer: The clock cycle time would be 5 cycles. The clock cycle time in a computer system determines the speed at which instructions are executed. The longest time among the add, beq, lw, and sw instructions will determine the clock cycle time. The clock cycle time is the number of cycles taken by the instruction with the longest execution time.
Step-by-step explanation:
In a computer system, the clock cycle time is the amount of time needed for a single clock cycle. It establishes how quickly instructions are carried out. The system's critical path, which is made up of the instructions that take the longest to execute, must be taken into account when calculating the clock cycle time.
Here, consideration is given to the add, beq, lw, and sw instructions. The instruction with the longest duration among them is the critical path. Assuming that the add instruction takes the longest, we can proceed. The clock cycle time would be 5 cycles if, for example, the add instruction takes 5 clock cycles to complete. Other instructions like beq, lw, and sw may take fewer cycles to execute, but their timing is still determined by the clock cycle time.
Therefore, the clock cycle time required to support add, beq, lw, and sw instructions would be the number of cycles taken by the instruction that has the longest execution time among them.