Question

Katherine Johnson worked at NASA in the 1950s as a mathematician with the job title of computer. She provided calculations for engineers on the Mercury and Apollo space missions. Her work: take a problem, such as finding the trajectory for a space capsule’s flight path, do the math in steps and record each one, find the solution, and pass the calculations to the engineers to evaluate and use. How does Ms. Johnson’s work compare to computing today?

A. It likely was more accurate due to risks of malware.

B. It is close to today’s systems but lacked the input step.

C. It likely was less accurate than computer results.

D. It followed the same process as today’s computing.

Answer 1

C. It likely was less accurate than computer results.

Step-by-step explanation:

While Katherine Johnson's calculations were extremely precise, they were done by hand using paper and pencil, without the aid of modern computers. This means that they were more prone to human error than modern computer results, which are calculated using digital algorithms and software designed specifically for accuracy and reliability. Additionally, modern computing is much faster and can handle larger and more complex calculations than Johnson's manual methods.