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From: myers@hpfcph.HP.COM ( Bob Myers)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: Analog/Digital Distinction: 8 more replies
Message-ID: <3490001@hpfcph.HP.COM>
Date: Thu, 6-Nov-86 15:15:01 EST
Article-I.D.: hpfcph.3490001
Posted: Thu Nov 6 15:15:01 1986
Date-Received: Mon, 10-Nov-86 21:20:15 EST
References: <116@mind.UUCP>
Organization: HP Ft. Collins
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After following the "analog vs. digital" discussion for some time,
I have finally felt moved to post my very first (golly!....a drum roll,
please!) response here.
The difference between "analog" and "digital" is nothing more than the
difference between a table of numbers and the corresponding graph; in a
digital representation, we assign a finite-precision number to indicate the
value of something (usually a signal) at various points in time (or frequency,
or space, or whatever). An "analog" representation is just that - we choose
to view some value (voltage, current, water pressure, anything) as hopefully
being a faithful copy of something else. An excellent example is a
microphone, which converts a varying pressure into an "analogous" signal -
a varying voltage. This distinction has nothing to do with the accuracy of
the representation obtained, the technology used to obtain, or any of a host
of other items that come to mind when we think of the terms "analog" and
"digital".
This whole discussion brings to mind a quote that, I believe, Carl Sagan used
in his recent novel, "Contact". It had to do with a conference of SETI
researchers trying to define "a living organism". After a lengthy and rambling
discussion, one member of the British delegation said, "Gentlemen, everyone
here knows the difference between a dead horse and a live one. Pray, let us
cease flogging the latter."
Bob Myers
Somewhere Out of My Mind,
HP Fort Collins