Analog computer

From Computer History Wiki
Revision as of 16:21, 7 March 2021 by Jnc (talk | contribs) (Quick, but covers the basics)
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to: navigation, search

An analog computer (the older, UK spelling analogue was once common) is a computer in which analog information (infinitely variable voltage, etc) is the basic data, instead of the limited discrete values used in digital computing devices. (Obviously, in actuality, all computers are 'analog' at their lowest level, since they are built out of electrical circuits.) Their computational power is limited, but for modelling real world systems, they were important in an age when digital computers had very limited power.