What is the Difference Between Analog And Digital Computer 2023

As a tech-savvy guy, you definitely hear the name of analog and digital computers.  But only hear the name can fulfill your curious mind.

I think no because I am also a tech-savvy guy and try to gather technology-related knowledge.  So, when I come to know this name, I try to find out the ins and out of the analog and digital computer and present those in this article for you.

So, as a knowledge hunter, I think you could fulfill your curiosity on these 2 types as well as can understand the difference between analog and digital computer.

Analog And Digital Computer

Prior to discussing the difference between analog and digital computers, we need to clarify what is the analog computer and also digital computers.

Analog Computer

When we talk about the computer we indicate only the digital computer because it is more familiar with us. Moreover, the digital computer’s discussion and usages outweigh the analog computer’s discussion and usages. That’s why Analog computing system seems to be unfamiliar to us

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Ok, let’s come to the main point on what is the analog computer. An analog computer is used to computing the continuous variation in a physical quantity for example voltage, pressure, current, speedometer, temperature, etc.

In the analog computer, the arithmetic operation is performed by showing analog signals like mechanical movement, the rotation of gears instead of showing the number.

Digital Computer

This type of computer named digital computer is so much popular among the users. A digital computer works on a digital signal and the problem can solve in a discrete form instead of the physical quantity. Whenever you input data for example letters, symbols, etc then this data is converted into a digital format called binary code (0,1).

What is the Difference Between Analog And Digital Computer

Although both analog and digital computer solve the same problem, there are some significant differences remains, so, let’s understand those from below:

The output of Analog and Digital Computer

All of us use a computer to get our inputted data’s result. To fulfill our desire both analog and digital computer display result but in a different way.

If I talk about digital computers, which shows the number as output and use display screen, printers, etc to display output.

On the other hand, an analog computer show analog signals like mechanical movement, the rotation of gears instead of showing the number, and use an analog meter to display output.

Variation in Electronic Circuits

In an analog computer op-amp, networks of resistors and capacitors, etc are used as the circuit to computing the continuous variation in a physical quantity.

Whereas digital computers use microprocessors, clock pulse generators, and logic gates to process inputted data.

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Variation in Signal

The digital computer produces a digital signal where has 2 discrete states like ON or OFF.

On the other hand, the analog computer produces an analog signal which varies continuously.

Presence of Users

Analog computer’s use becomes declining day by day, only a few uses you can see nowadays like in voltage meter, speedometer, etc, so the user is limited.

Whereas the digital computer’s uses can not express because where ever you look, you can see its use even in a watch, so definitely its user is more than an analog computer.

Complexity in Storing Data

In a digital computer, data can be stored simply because of numeric as well as discrete nature. Here, memory chips are used to retain data and can transfer easily to another device.

But when you look at the analog computer, data can’t be store simply because of continuous variation nature. If you want to store data then you need to convert the analog signal to the number, therefore, the number can store in the digital circuits.

Speed & Accuracy

When you look at speed and accuracy, then you can easily differentiate the digital and analog computers. Because of the discrete form and display number, the digital computer works so fast and produces exact output.

On the other hand, the analog computer is used to computing the continuous variations and show results by mechanical movement or the rotation of gears so it is slow and accuracy may be affected.

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Programming in the Analog and Digital Computer

Though the analog and digital computer working processes are different so the method of programming is also different.

In a digital computer, there is arithmetic logic work like addition, subtraction, multiplication, division of the data, and logic operations like comparing, selecting, etc occur to process data.

On the other hand, in an analog computer, you need to manually connect different wire according to the diagram to start operation.

FAQs

Final thought

As an advanced world’s citizen, we need to hold some basic knowledge of computer type because the computer plays an important role in our life. Hopefully, our article will help you to understand the difference between analog and digital computer.  Lastly, thank you for your valuable time with us in this article and hopefully see you in another article.