What is an Analog Computer?
A form of computer that uses the continuously-changeable aspects of physical phenomena such as electrical, mechanical, or hydraulic quantities to model the problem being solved. - In operation, analog computers contain a mathematical model of the problem.
Example of an Analog Computer Educational Analog Computer, introduced in 1960 by Heathkit.
What is a Digital Computer?
A computer that stores data in terms of digits (numbers) and proceeds in discrete steps from one state to the next. The states of a digital computer typically involve binary digits which may take the form of the presence or absence of magnetic markers in a storage medium, on-off switches or relays.
What is the difference between Analog Computer and Digital Computer?
The digital computer represents data internally using a quite verbose but very robust form of representation called binary. Thus a single transistor in a digital computer can only store two states. Obviously to store a number to any sensible degree of precision, many transistors are required.
An analog computer operates in a completely opposite way to the digital computer. For a start, all operations in an analog computer are performed in parallel. Secondly, data are represented as voltages, a very compact but not necessarily robust form of storage. A single capacitor (equivalent to the digital computer’s use of a transistor) can represent one continuous variable.
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