It's a question about pipelining (computer architecture) so Computer Science/Electrical Engineering knowledge may be required.

14.4 We learned in figure 14.11 the effect of a conditional branch on an instruction pipeline operation: Time Branch penalty 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 Instruction 1 DI CO FO Er wo FI Instruction 2 | DI co FO EI wo co Fo EI Instruction 3 FI DI wo Instruction 4 FI DI |co Fo | DICO Instruction 5 Instruction 6 FI Instruction 7 FI FI EI Instruction 15 co FO WO Instruction 16 |F1 pico Foei wo Figure 14.11 The Effect of a Conditional Branch on Instruction Pipeline Operation Ours is a six-stage pipeline, with a branch and an incorrect guess that caused us to run the wrong code for a little while. Assume the program has 16 instructions. a. (2 pts) In which of the 6 pipeline stages do we learn whether or not to take a branch? b. (1.5 pts) At which instruction number was the branch command? c. (1.5 pts) How many commands entered the pipeline in total? d. (1.5 pts) How many total individual pipeline stages were spent running the wrong instructions? e. (1.5 pts) For how many clock cycles was the next correct instruction after the branch delayed because of the incorrect guess? f. (1.5 pts) of the instructions shown on the diagram, once we realized our branch guess was wrong, we flushed the pipeline. How many pipeline stages did this 14.4 We learned in figure 14.11 the effect of a conditional branch on an instruction pipeline operation: Time Branch penalty 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 Instruction 1 DI CO FO Er wo FI Instruction 2 | DI co FO EI wo co Fo EI Instruction 3 FI DI wo Instruction 4 FI DI |co Fo | DICO Instruction 5 Instruction 6 FI Instruction 7 FI FI EI Instruction 15 co FO WO Instruction 16 |F1 pico Foei wo Figure 14.11 The Effect of a Conditional Branch on Instruction Pipeline Operation Ours is a six-stage pipeline, with a branch and an incorrect guess that caused us to run the wrong code for a little while. Assume the program has 16 instructions. a. (2 pts) In which of the 6 pipeline stages do we learn whether or not to take a branch? b. (1.5 pts) At which instruction number was the branch command? c. (1.5 pts) How many commands entered the pipeline in total? d. (1.5 pts) How many total individual pipeline stages were spent running the wrong instructions? e. (1.5 pts) For how many clock cycles was the next correct instruction after the branch delayed because of the incorrect guess? f. (1.5 pts) of the instructions shown on the diagram, once we realized our branch guess was wrong, we flushed the pipeline. How many pipeline stages did this