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  • Digital computer uses discretely coded numbers or symbols (typically in binary, although other codings like decimal and trinary have been used in certain machines). Changes in value are sudden jumps by at least the smallest representable value. Digital computers can incorporate error detecting and/or correcting circuits.
  • Analog computer uses continuously varying signals. Changes in value are smooth and continuous. Analog computers drift with temperature, voltage, component aging, etc. and are very sensitive to noise; any of which can cause undetectable errors.
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10y ago
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10y ago

Analog computers are easier and cheaper to build than digital computers, so they were successfully built first. Digital computers typically require at least one or two orders of magnitude more components than analog computers to have the same computing ability.

You rarely see Analog computers anymore because they tend to require repeated calibration, are much more prone to errors, have more limited precision, and are harder (sometimes impossible) to reprogram for a different problem than digital. Although the main reason Analog computers are rarely seen anymore is that they have been dismissed out of hand as obsolete and their design and use has been dropped from engineering school curriculum and therefore modern engineers don't know enough about them to be able to use them when an application for which they are applicable arises.

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12y ago

High speed Analog computers built with the same technologies can reach a solution faster than digital computers. However that solution has a larger error component because of component tolerance and drift.

Some hybrid computers were built and operated simply to use this analog speed to get initial result values for the digital computer to improve by approximation algorithms to get the required accuracy. This significantly reduced total solution time with no loss of accuracy over the pure digital route.

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10y ago
What gives you the idea that analog computers cost more than digital computers? There are many kinds of analog computers, some cost almost nothing yet give answers much quicker and in easier to understand form than digital computers. Two examples of these are Rubber Sheet Analog Computers and Soap Film Analog Computers. Also neither of these consumes any power as they are neither electronic nor electrical.
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  • Analog computers represent values as continuously variable signals. This allows them to use any value within the range possible on the specific machine exactly, within the limits of the machine's component tolerances; however these signals are also susceptible to drift, temperature variation, component aging, noise, etc. Once such errors occur there is no way to detect them and they continue to accumulate in the calculations.
  • Digital computers represent values as discrete encoded symbols. This limits the values to those having valid codes, no value between two adjacent codes can be represented; these codes are exact and if necessary there are ways to design such computers so that if a value does get corrupted during processing or transfer between computers, the error can be detected and the code corrected, restoring the correct value.

Assuming that an analog computer and a digital computer are built using identical technology, the analog computer will always be faster than the digital computer. However current digital computers use far more advanced technology than is now available for analog computers, as improvements on analog computer technology effectively stalled in the 1980s or early 1990s due mostly to the development of specialized microprocessors called digital signal processors (DSPs) a type of digital computer optimized to perform digitally the kinds of tasks for which analog computers had previously been used. Both DSPs and standard general purpose microprocessors are far easier to program (and if necessary reprogram) than any analog computer (which often has to be entirely taken apart and rebuilt to reprogram).

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Q: How is analog computers are more powerful then digital computers?
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Continue Learning about General History

What are some examples of analog computers?

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.


Why digital computer is more accurate than analog computer?

an analog computer cannot be more accurate than its component tolerances. this usually limits them to no more than 2 to 4 digits accuracy (although a few have been built with 6 digits accuracy by using special components with very tight tolerances. but such parts are quite expensive).a digital computer can have any accuracy desired simply by increasing the number of bits used to represent numbers.also analog computers are subject to factors like drift, component aging, noise, etc. that have no effect on digital computers.


How are all quantities represented in a digital computer?

As encoded values composed of one or more bits. A small number of computers used trits instead of bits, but these were rare. Some computers of a new type currently being developed called quantum computers use quebits instead of bits. But the important thing common to all digital computers is the encoded values.This is in contrast to analog computers where quantities are represented as continuous values.


What is the difference between analog computers - digital computers - and hybrid computers - give examples of each type?

Analog computers are also called continuous computers, as there are no discontinuities in their computations. A mechanical analog computer might represent variables by rotation rate of shafts, any given shaft can rotate at any speed and will smoothly accelerate or decelerate its rotation as the calculation proceeds. An electronic analog computer might represent variables by voltages, say any voltage between -20VDC and +20VDC with voltages smoothly varying as the calculation proceeds.Bush differential analyzer at MIT, electromechanical, 1929.Norden bombsight, electromechanical, 1930s through 1960s (used in WW2, Korea, and Vietnam!).Various commercial electronic differential analyzers sold from 1950s through 1970s, electronic.Murray/Walker simultaneous equation solver, electronic, 1949.Vacuum operated cruise control in cars, mechanical/pneumatic.Resistor/capacitor 3D mesh water table models, electronic.etc.Digital computers on the other hand have discontinuous states that they jump from one to another.ABC: Atanasoff-Berry Computer, simultaneous equation solver, 1942ENIAC, late 1945UNIVAC IIBM 700 and 7000 seriesDEC VAXDesktops and laptopsBoth of the computers in your cellphoneetc.Hybrid computers are simply computer systems that combine both analog and digital computers together. Usually the digital computer controls the analog computer, reconfiguring it and entering new data each time the analog computer completes one problem, to have it solve a different one.Most were custom "one off" systems built by individual labs or universities by buying a standard COTS digital computer and a standard COTS electronic analog computer, and customizing them to work together as needed.One example of such a machine used a DEC minicomputer and an analog computer to model heat flow from a nuclear reactor fuel rod to circulating coolant. The analog computer was programmed on its plugboard to do a rapid solution through a single radial slice of the system, the digital computer was programmed to enter new parameters into the analog computer for each slice starting at the coolant entrance end of the fuel rod and collect and record the results of each slice. The machine could solve the problem to adequate accuracy much faster and more cheaply than an all digital system or all analog system of the time period.


What is 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 (see memory), on-off switches or relays. In digital computers, even letters, words and whole texts are represented digitally. Unlike analog computers, digital computers can only approximate a continuum by assigning large numbers of digits to a state description and by proceeding in arbitrarily small steps.

Related questions

Are digital phones as reliable as analog phones?

Digital phones are more reliable than analog phones. The digital signals are easier to produce and the technology is more reliable than that of analog signal.


Why are digital computers popular?

Well it is kind of simple really but digital has better graphics and says to run faster.The reason is simple: ease of programmingDigital computers can be programmed by writing code, which can be reloaded at any time.Analog computers usually have to be "taken apart and rewired" to be programmed.In fact, when built with the same technology, Analog computers are always faster than Digital computers at solving the same problem. However Analog computers have not been built since the 1980s (and then only for special purposes) so Analog computing technology now lags Digital computing technology by several decades.


What is more accurate analog or digital?

Usually digital, it is definitely less expensive to get highly accuracy with digital then analog. Also analog haas drift, stability, etc. problems that digital does not have.


Why digital and analog ground must be separated?

Digital GND has more noise than Analog GND. So never mix up Digital GND to Analog GND to avoid the coupling from Digital to Analog GND


Which device is used to convert digital signals to analog signals or analog signals to digital signals?

The set top box that your provider gives you is what converts the Digital signal to the analog signal. The digital signal is compressed at the provider and sent to the end user. The "tuner" (which can be built into a tv, a set top box or a cable card) Then decompresses the digital signal and converts it into an analog signal. There is much more to this did not know how technical you wanted your answer.


What are the advantages of a digital radio over an analog radio?

The advantages of digital radio over analog radio are digital radios get more channels than analog, they are clearer in sound and signal and have more additional features.


What is digital analog simulators?

Analog system simulation is more sensitive to the changes in the parameters compared to the digital system. This is because of the continuous nature of the analog signals, unlike the discreet nature of the digital signals. Digital systems have gates which can not be used in Analog system.


What are some examples of analog computers?

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.


What are the disadvantages of having an analog watch?

The advantages of an analog watch over a digital watch are that analog watches can be more durable in some facets, than a digital one. Many watch enthusiasts also feel that analog watches are more aesthetically pleasing than digital watches.


What is analog simulation?

Analog system simulation is more sensitive to the changes in the parameters compared to the digital system. This is because of the continuous nature of the analog signals, unlike the discreet nature of the digital signals. Digital systems have gates which can not be used in Analog system.


Who is more accurate analog or digital multimeter and why?

analoge


What is digital simulation?

Analog system simulation is more sensitive to the changes in the parameters compared to the digital system. This is because of the continuous nature of the analog signals, unlike the discreet nature of the digital signals. Digital systems have gates which can not be used in Analog system.