Some are, but most have been made obsolete by modern inexpensive high speed digital computers. The few that remain now are in specialized applications where speed and smooth transitionsare more important than very accurate results. Even in those places digital computers called DSPs (Digital Signal Processors) are rapidly encroaching.
At this time, no, most computers are digital. However from the 1930s through the 1960s analog computers probably did outnumber digital computers as they were generally smaller and less expensive than digital computers.
Norbert Steinberg has written: 'Machines analogiques et hybrides' -- subject(s): Electronic analog computers, Hybrid computers
Included in this industry are digital computers, analog computers, and hybrid digital/analog computers.
ALL computers are binary machines !
This is a brief description of an analogue computerAn analog computer is 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 contrast, digital computers represent varying quantities symbolically, as their numerical values change. As an analog computer does not use discrete values, but rather continuous values, processes cannot be reliably repeated with exact equivalence, as they can with Turing machines. Analog computers do not suffer from the quantization noise inherent in digital computers, but are limited instead by analog noise.Analog computers were widely used in scientific and industrial applications where digital computers of the time lacked sufficient performance. Analog computers can have a very wide range of complexity. Slide rules and nomographs are the simplest, while naval gunfire control computers and large hybrid digital/analog computers were among the most complicated.[1] Systems for process control and protective relaysused analog computation to perform control and protective functions.Source: Wikipedia
Victor Paschkis has written: 'Direct analog computers [by] Victor Paschkis [and] Frederick L. Ryder' -- subject(s): Engineering, Electronic data processing, Electronic analog computers, Electromechanical analogies 'Direct analog computers'
Computers DO use analogue methods to transfer information.Modems, for example (short for "Modulator/DEModulator") use either frequency shift or phase shift to transmit information.Your monitor, even if it is a digital monitor, is using light to transmit information to your eyes, which is an analogue medium.Even your wireless connection uses frequencies (analogue) representing ones and zeros to your computer; where the frequencies are converted back to ones and zeros by the wireless card.
Hybrid computers are computers that exhibit features of analog computers and digital computers. The digital component normally serves as the controller and provides logical operations, while the analog component normally serves as a solver of differential equations.
built with the same level of technology, analog computers are always faster but less accurate than digital computers. however as little significant work on analog computers has been done since the 1980s, they currently significantly lag behind digital computers in speed.
abacus old-fashioned cash register (with gears and handle) gear-driven clocks/watches ---- Actually the above are examples of mechanical computers, not analog computers. Analog computers use continually variable quantities. An abacus uses discrete units of measurement and is digital, though not binary. A slide rule is an example of a simple mechanical analog computer. Another example is the Norden Bomb Sight. An ancient example is the astrolabe. More complex analog computers are programmable and can use fluid, mechanical, or electronically set values. There is a link below to an article on analog computers.
analog computers
analog digital