Analog

views updated May 18 2018

ANALOG

Information can be presented in one of two formats, analog or digital. The main difference between the two involves continuity. Analog information is representative of the way events or phenomena unfold in the real world. Mechanical wristwatches are an excellent example because the hands of a watch display every possible point in time as they unfold, including the very smallest fractional units, in a smooth, continuous, uninterrupted fashion. Other examples of analog devices are thermometers and speedometers, the measurements on which correspond directly to conditions in the real world. By comparison, digital devices are only able to display information in finite units (10 degrees versus, for example, 10.0625 degrees).

Although the majority of computers are digital machines, meaning that they process information in a binary format of zeroes and ones (0, 1, 10, 11, 100, 111, and so on), analog computers do exist. They are used for simulating real-world systems in the fields of hydraulics, electronics, nuclear power, and so forth. Through the use of a component called an operational amplifier, these devices create complicated mathematical expressions that companies and scientists use to make more informed decisions.

In the Edge Foundation Inc.'s The Third Culture, Freeman Dyson, professor of physics at Princeton University's Institute for Advanced Study, explained that two mathematicians at the University of Minnesota by the names of Ian Richards and Marian Pour-El "proved a theorem twenty years ago that says, in a mathematically precise way, that analog computers are more powerful than digital computers. They give examples of numbers that are proved to be non-computable with digital computers but are computable with a simple kind of analog computer."

FURTHER READING:

"Digital and Analog Information." The PC Guide. May 9, 2001. Available from www.pcguide.com

Massey, Howard. "Analog Vs. Digital." The International Association of Electronic Keyboard Manufacturers. May 12, 2001.

"The Mathematics of Computing." The PC Guide. May 9, 2001. Available from www.pcguide.com

"Question of the Day." How Stuff Works. May 12, 2001. Available from www.howstuffworks.com

SEE ALSO: Digital

analog

views updated May 23 2018

an·a·log / ˈanlˌôg; -ˌäg/ (also an·a·logue) • n. a person or thing seen as comparable to another: the idea that the fertilized egg contains a miniature analog of every adult structure. ∎  Chem. a compound with a molecular structure closely similar to that of another.• adj. relating to or using signals or information represented by a continuously variable physical quantity such as spatial position or voltage. Often contrasted with digital (sense 1). ∎  (of a clock or watch) showing the time by means of hands rather than displayed digits.

analogue

views updated May 17 2018

analogue (an-ă-log)
1. n. a drug that differs in minor ways in molecular structure from its parent compound. Useful analogues of existing drugs are either more potent or cause fewer side-effects. Carboplatin and oxaloplatin, for example, are less toxic analogues of cisplatin. See also gonadorelin analogue, insulin.

2. adj. relating to or designating information that can be represented by a continuously varying quantity. a. hearing aid see hearing aid. a. image a traditional X-ray image on film in shades ranging smoothly from black to white. It can be converted to digital format. Compare digital.

analogue

views updated Jun 08 2018

analogue XIX. — Fr. — Gr. análogon, sb. use of n. sg. of análogos (f. aná ANA- + lógos ratio) whence, through L. analogus, analogous XVII.

analogue

views updated May 11 2018

an·a·logue • n. & adj. variant spelling of analog.