Hardware is the physical components of a computer (processor, memory, storage, peripherals) that you can touch. Software is the set of instructions (programs) that tell hardware what to do. Together they form a complete computing system—hardware provides the capability, and software provides the purpose.
Hardware is the body, software is the mind. One is physical stuff you can touch; the other is instructions that make it useful.
Showing a random 20 of 50 problems.
Example 1
medium
Name the role each fills: hardware provides ____ and software provides ____. (one word each)
Example 2
medium
Which boots first when you power on a computer: firmware, OS, or user app?
Example 3
medium
Classify each: GPU, video-editing program, SSD. Which one is software?
Example 4
easy
A song file (.mp3) is hardware, software, or data?
Example 5
easy
Hardware provides ____ and software provides ____. (one word each)
Example 6
medium
Explain the relationship between hardware and software using the example of playing a video on a computer. What role does each play?
Example 7
challenge
Explain in one sentence why investing only in faster hardware without updating software can give disappointing speedups.
Example 8
easy
True or false: software cannot do anything without hardware to run on.
Example 9
medium
Which of these is software: a network cable, a router's firmware, or a USB port?
Example 10
hard
A smart thermostat has temperature sensors, an ARM chip running embedded code, and a screen. Label its hardware, software, and data in one phrase each.
Example 11
hard
A 'virtual machine' is software that pretends to be hardware. Does it still require real hardware to run?A virtual machine is software, but it still runs on real physical hardware at the bottom of the stack
Example 12
medium
Classify each: GPU, antivirus program, RAM, OS kernel. How many are software?
Example 13
hard
A scientist replaces a normal CPU with a GPU and sees a 50x speedup on matrix code. Is this a hardware win, a software win, or both?
Example 14
hard
A school says 'we have new software but old computers'. Explain in one sentence why this can still bottleneck performance.
Example 15
challenge
Explain why hardware and software are interdependent using a one-sentence consequence of removing each.
Example 16
easy
Classify a spreadsheet app: hardware or software?
Example 17
medium
Sort these into hardware (H) or software (S): monitor, spreadsheet app, hard drive, antivirus program. List the software ones.
Example 18
medium
Which layer runs first when a computer boots: firmware, operating system, or a user app?Boot order: Firmware runs first, then the OS, then user apps
Example 19
medium
A laptop overheats and shuts off. Can a software update reliably fix this if the cooling fan is broken?
Example 20
easy
A photo file stored on disk is which: hardware, software, or data?