analog, digital?

Question

could anyone explain to me, in simple terms, what in $*%^ these terms mean? and what is the deal with everything boiling down to numbers (ala "The Matrix")? i am not dumb, but i sure as heck don't have a mind for math and i have never heard an explanation for these things that i could comprehend. no sarcastic (i.e. "because you're blonde") answers, please

Okay - I guess I didn't even ASK the question very clearly. Babloo hits on what I don't understand. I have had the 1 and 0 thing (attempted to be) explained to me. I just CANnot understand how 2 numbers are translated into all that information.

Answer 1

Analog generally refers to mechanisms that are continuous. Old watches and clocks for example are analog because their internal parts and hands are continuously moving.

Digital generally refers to mechanisms that are discrete. What is referred to as digital clocks or watches change once a second.

Also, the term digital can refer to they way information is packaged. Within a computer, information is packaged digitally - i.e specific, unique, numbers are assigned to represent different pieces of information.

[edit - in response to "additional information"]

Analog signals are converted to digital using a sampling technique. A device takes a measurement of an analog signal a certain number of times a second - say 65000. Each time the signal is sampled, a number is generated and can then be stored digitally.

Answer 2

Analog is anything that is continuous. It varies with time continuously. Analog things are primarily naturally occurring things. Sound is a prime example. Light is another.

Digital is something that is represented by 1 or 0. This is know as binary numbers. Digital is not continuous. Digital is an approximation of an analog signal. Think of digital as integer only. Analog on the other hand is a real number. So a digital number can only be 1, 2 , 5 but an analog number can be 1,1.2, 4.25

A good example is the difference between an analog picture and a digital picture. A digital picture is made up of pixels. These are small squares that contain only one color and when all pixels of a pictures are looked at from a distance it looks like an object. With analog you do not have pixels. You can zoom in as far as you like but it is always continuous. A digital picture tricks your mind into thinking it is an analog picture with the pixels.

Hope that sheds some light on it.

Answer 3

Digital means expressed in numbers, such as time shown on a clock with an LED display. Analog means expressed in comparative size or position, as in a clock with hands. You need to be able to convert back and forth if you are doing electronic things. For example, a video game controller presents its signal to the computer as a voltage; a A-to-D converter turns the handle position into a number so that computation can be done. A CD player converts the digital information representing the music to an analog signal to drive the speakers.

Answer 4

it depends on what are u referring to...

The '$' can refer to all sorts of things... It can be a dollar sign ($4.00) for money as maths as well as a symbol representing hexadecimal ($4A)... hexadecimal numbers are a set of numbers with base 16... instead of the base 10 that we usually deal with.

The '*' sign can mean multipilcation (5*8 = 5 x 8), or simply EVERYTHING.. as used in computer languages. Like taking Tea* can mean everything starting with 'Tea'

the '%' is used as in percentage in maths. 50% = 50/100 = 0.5 Iy has some other meanings that i dun really know...

The '^' is 'power to' 2^2 is 4... while 6^2 = 6 x 6 = 36 and 5^3 = 5 x 5 x 5 = 125. It can also be a arrow pointing upwards.

The matrix can be used to solve equations. like for electronics, it can be used to find the currents in a circult, or finding the forces on different parts of a bridge etc etc.

Answer 5

Just because a tranmission of information is digital does not mean binary even though that is a common way of expressing numbers in computer systems. Any number can be expressed in any base. The binary system does not have only two numbers, it has only two DIGITS. But with these digits any number can be expressed. The binary system became common because computers could be composed of switches with only two positions: "on" and "off", and assigning the digits "0" and "1" to these states.

Answer 6

Analog and digital are often used terms in electrical engineering, particularly with respect to analog and digital circuit design. Analog circuits deal with continuous voltages and currents. Digital circuits are often considered more modern and typically use binary states of "OFF" and "ON" or "0" and "1" to process data. The computers we all use to type on Yahoo are examples of digital circuits ... at their heart are digital chips that process all of the data generated by typing on keyboard as sequences of 1's and 0's, however, they are also analog because they have power supplies (which are analog), computer monitors (which are analog), mouse interfaces which use analog circuits, and even the ethernet connections we use are really analog interpreted as digital.

The second part of your question referencing the Matrix, is somewhat deeper. This digital versus analog question goes all the way to particle physics and the nature of our universe. We see and interact with our world in an analog fashion, but at the heart of physics are quantum physics theories in which the atoms and electrons are particles that behave "digitally" in some respects with quantum states and not analog ones.

Hope this helped :)

Answer 7

analog signal travels as a sine wave & digital as a square wave.
analog is like a ripple of water.whereas digital is symbolised as 1=high,0=low;analog is much more old form of signal in electronics.digital signals r mostly associated with computers Both have advtg & dadvtg.analogs can travel longer distance but digital has gud quality.

Answer 8

What form of converteers are you searching for; stress to digital; analogue voltages or currents to digital; fluid flow to digital; sound to digital. there are various categories of analogue to digital converters; you will possibly desire to be extra particular. "are the microphone and headphone ports on a working laptop or notebook DACs and ADCs" - look up the specs of the notebook for this strategies.

Answer 9

Analog is typically displayed as a dial (like a watch face); digital is represented in numberic (like a digital watch display).

Answer 10

They will be in calc.