Practice What Is A Critical Path? (3.5) - Final Project / Open-Ended Design Challenge
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What is a critical path?

Practice - What is a critical path?

Learning

Practice Questions

Test your understanding with targeted questions

Question 1 Easy

What is a critical path in digital circuits?

💡 Hint: Think about how delays work in a circuit.

Question 2 Easy

What does propagation delay refer to?

💡 Hint: Consider how long it takes for a signal to go from input to output.

4 more questions available

Interactive Quizzes

Quick quizzes to reinforce your learning

Question 1

What defines a critical path in a digital circuit?

Fastest path
Shortest path
Longest delay path

💡 Hint: Think about what affects circuit performance.

Question 2

True or False: Optimizing the critical path can increase the maximum frequency of a circuit.

True
False

💡 Hint: How does performance relate to speed?

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Challenge Problems

Push your limits with advanced challenges

Challenge 1 Hard

A digital circuit has three paths with delays of 10 ns, 15 ns, and 12 ns. Identify the critical path and explain how it affects potential frequency.

💡 Hint: Compare all delays and find the longest one.

Challenge 2 Hard

Design a small example where shortening the critical path dramatically increases speed. What specific components would you redesign?

💡 Hint: Identify the gates that contribute the most delay.

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Reference links

Supplementary resources to enhance your learning experience.