Microprocessors
What are they and where can you find them?
What are they?
A microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit (CPU), or at most a few integrated circuits. It is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and provides results as output. Microprocessors operate on numbers and symbols represented in the binary numeral system.
Origins
During the 1960s, computer processors were constructed out of small and medium-scale ICs each containing from tens to a few hundred transistors. For each computer built, all of these had to be placed and soldered onto printed circuit boards, and often multiple boards would have to be interconnected in a chassis.
Where can you find them?
In fridges, microwaves, washing machines, smartphones, older feature phones, Digital TVs, heating systems, computers, tablets, laptops and much more. Household objects can have them and we don't notice them.