Can someone give me a good description of analog and digital.

Thanks

 

Originally posted by ElectronicsGoddess@Aug 19 2005, 05:49 PM
Can someone give me a good description of analog and digital.

Thanks

[post=9741]Quoted post[/post]​

In the most simple terms, digital is 1 or 0, ie on or off. Analog is continuous.

Though opinions vary, one is not always better than the other. The right signal / source depends on the specific application.

 

Digital: Room is Occupied or Unoccupied
Analog: Room contains four adults, two children, and a dog

Digital: Steak is Raw or Cooked
Analog: Steak is slightly on the pink side of medium-rare

Digital: I am old or I am young
Analog: It has been 44 years, ten months, and a few days since I was born

When used in applications, Digital provides distinct "steps" with no in-betweens. Each step would be a set value. Values between the set steps would be resolved as either the previous step or the next step.

Analog has no steps - it is not a "stairway" but rather a "hill."

 

Thanks, thingmaker3, for your hysterical and very accurate description of analog / digital differences. I'd like to borrow that in the future, though not in this forum, ofcourse.