ANALOGUE VS.

DIGITAL
Nicole Sánchez Figueroa 3° Bac. D
 Making meanings…
 Digital data:
Data that are electromagnetically stored in the
form of discrete digits( discontinuos values).
Information discrete like numbers, letters or
icons.

 Analogue data:
Data represented with a continuous range of
information like sounds, images, and other
measurements.
 Formats…

DIGITAL data: Data represented in series of

zeros and ones.

ANALOGUE data: Data represented in a

continuous form, as contrasted with digital
data having discrete values.
 ANALOGUE data:

 Subjective
 Has rhythms or patterns
 Is continuos
 No intrinsic calibrations for to use
to communicate with.
 A typical analog device is a clock in which the
hands move continuously around the face.
Such a clock is capable of indicating every
possible time of day. In contrast, a digital clock
is capable of representing only a finite number
of times (every tenth of a second, for example).
In general, humans experience the world
analogically. Vision, for example, is an analog
experience because we perceive infinitely
smooth gradations of shapes and colors.
 analog format is that in which information is transmitted by
modulating a continuous transmission signal, such as
amplifying a signal's strength or varying its frequency to add
or take away data. For example, telephones take sound
vibrations and turn them into electrical vibrations of the same
shape before they are transmitted over traditional telephone
lines. Radio wave transmissions work in the same way.
Computers, which handle data in digital form, require
modems to turn signals from digital to analog before
transmitting those signals over communication lines such as
telephone lines that carry only analog signals. The signals are
turned back into digital form (demodulated) at the receiving
end so that the computer can process the data in its digital
format.
 Internally, computers are digital because they
consist of discrete units called bits that are
either on or off. But by combining many bits in
complex ways, computers simulate analog
events. In one sense, this is what
computer science is all about.
COMPUTER DATA:

digital data…
 The world:

Analogue not digital.

 Conversion from analog to digital
 The real-world information is converted to
binary numeric form as in digital audio and
digital photography.
 A device for converting the information contained in the value or magnitude of some characteristic
of an input signal, compared to a standard or reference, to information in the form of discrete
states of a signal, usually with numerical values assigned to the various combinations of discrete
states of the signal.
 Analog-to-digital (A/D) converters are used to transform analog information, such as audio
signals or measurements of physical variables (for example, temperature, force, or shaft rotation)
into a form suitable for digital handling, which might involve any of these operations: (1)
processing by a computer or by logic circuits, including arithmetical operations, comparison,
sorting, ordering, and code conversion, (2) storage until ready for further handling, (3) display in
numerical or graphical form, and (4) transmission.
 If a wide-range analog signal can be converted, with adequate frequency, to an appropriate
number of two-level digits,or bits, the digital representation of the signal can be transmitted
through a noisy medium without relative degradation of the fine structure of the original signal.
See also Computer graphics; Data communications; Digital computer.
 Conversion involves quantizing and encoding. Quantizing means partitioning the analog signal
range into a number of discrete quanta and determining to which quantum the input signal
belongs. Encoding means assigning a unique digital code to each quantum and determining the
code that corresponds to the input signal. The most common system is binary, in which there are
2n quanta (where n is some whole number), numbered consecutively; the code is a set of n physical
two-valued levels or bits (1 or 0) corresponding to the binary number associated with the signal
quantum.
The illustration shows a typical three-bit binary
representation of a range of input signals,
partitioned into eight quanta. For example, a
signal in the vicinity of 3/8; full scale (between
5/16 and 7/1
6) will be coded 011 (binary 3).

A three-bit binary representation of a range of

input signals.
 analog-to-digital or A/D conversion, the process of changing continuously
varying data, such as voltage, current, or shaft rotation, into discrete digital
quantities that represent the magnitude of the data compared to a standard or
reference at the moment the conversion is made. There are two types of
converters: electromechanical-also called shaft- or position-to-digital-and
electronic. The most common use is to change analog signals into a form that
can be manipulated by a digital computer, as in data communications; a
modem, or data set, is a device that converts the digital signals produced by
computers and terminals into analog signals that telephone circuits are
designed to carry and then back to digital signals at the other end of the
communication link. Similarly, in digital sound recording, audio signals are
transformed into digital data, which are then recorded on a magnetic or optical
disk or tape; the digitized data on the recording medium then must be changed
back into the analog sound signals that can be used by a stereophonic sound
system. See also digital-to-analog conversion. Bibliography
 See M. J. Demler, High-Speed Analog-to-Digital Conversion (1991); K. M.
Daugherty, Analog-to-Digital Conversion: A Practical Approach (1995).
 (Analog/Digital converter) A device that converts
continuously varying analog signals from instruments and
sensors that monitor conditions, such as sound, movement
and temperature into binary code for the computer. The
A/D converter may be contained on a single chip or can be
one circuit within a chip. See codec.
 A/D Converters Are Everywhere
 Every digital desk phone and cellphone has an A/D
converter that turns electronic sound waves into digital
PCM code. Every digital camera, camcorder or scanner
uses A/D converters to transform the variable charges in
CCD and CMOS chips into the binary data that represent
pixels.
 For example, we may know that the temperature varies between hot and cold with the time of day and
seasons. But "hot" and "cold" are not precisely defined, are open to subjective judgement, and so can't be
communicated with any real accuracy: today is hot, and so was yesterday - but which was the hottest?
When is it warm? Cool? Cold? Is warm to someone in the Scottish hills the same as warm to another
person on the Florida coast?
 The solution humans adopt for these analogue issues is to introduce a means of measuring. The means of
measuring must have a consistent means of sampling, but otherwise is entirely arbitrary. However, this
measuring has no value unless it is shared and widely adopted. Then, it becomes an invaluable tool.
 For instance, continuing with our temperature example, the Celsius scale of temperature measurement
defines the freezing point of water as 0 and the boiling point of water as 100. It then divides the
intervening points into 100 equal units, and extrapolates these units for temperatures below 0 and above
100. An eminently sensible system, those using it accept it as completely natural. However, beyond being
based on water's freezing and boiling points there is nothing natural about it. Importantly, though, it can
be consistently sampled, has been widely adopted, and therefore provides a basis for communication and
science.
 Interestingly, the measuring is often done in an analogue to analogue way, but with a calibration
imposed. For instance, when measuring temperature we watch the expansion of mercury up a glass tube.
The mercury expansion is an analogue event, but the Celsius measurements are not. A sundial or even a
clock hand represent time in an analogue way, but we impose our measures of time on the rotation.
Speed, sound, mass, gravity, acceleration, voltage, current and so on; all are measured by testing against a
second analogue signal which is affected by the first and applying a calibration.
 With the digital computer, the calibration is simple and predetermined: binary. By whatever means,
everything a computer deals with must ultimately be reduced to zeros and ones. So now, on to the
pictures.
 Sources
 http://
www.pctechguide.com/articles/analogue-and-
digital-data.htm
 http://www.answers.com/topic/analog-data
 http://
www.answers.com/topic/analog-to-digital-co
nverter
 http://
www.answers.com/topic/digital-1#Symbol_to
_digital_conversion
 http://
wi-fiplanet.webopedia.com/TERM/A/analog.