#What means digital download#
Not only that, they can download digital books from the Internet, which saves an analog trek to your local bookstore or library!Īll kinds of everyday technology also works using digital rather thanĪnalog technology. Photo: Ebooks owe their advantages to digital technology: they can store the equivalent of thousands of paper books in a thin electronic device that fits in your book. Whether they're more accurate depends on how the measurement isĪctually made and displayed. Digitalĭisplays are generally quicker and easier to read than analog ones That are now likely to give you an instant digital reading. Showing readings on LCD displays) instead of using analog pointersīlood-pressure meters, multimeters (for measuring electric current and voltage), and bathroom scalesĪre just a few of the common measuring devices Many scientific instruments now measure things digitally (automatically Most digitalĭevices now use LCD displays like this, which are cheap to manufacture and easy to read. Photo: A small LCD display on a pocket calculator. Instead of storing words, pictures, and soundsĪs representations on things like plastic film or magnetic tape, weįirst convert the information into numbers (digits) and display or Represent an analogy of the sounds you originally heard.ĭigital is entirely different. Magnetized areas on a long reel of plastic tape. The recording you make is a collection of The same is true of recording sounds with an old-fashionedĬassette recorder. The picture you get is an analogy of the scene you wanted to Print a representation of the scene you photographed. The film is developed (chemically processed in a lab), it's used to "film" coated with silver-based chemicals, which react to light. You capture an image on a piece of transparent plastic Old-style film camera is sometimes referred to as example of analog Handles, doesn't involve processing numbers electronically. That it's not digital: the job it does, or the information it When we say something is analog, we often simply mean However, analog technology isn't just about measuring things or using dialsĪnd pointers. Measuring devices worked in a similar way, from weighing machines and The pointer was an analogy of the current. Pointer moved up the dial, the higher the current in your circuit. If you wanted to measure an electric current, you did it withĪ moving-coil meter that had a little pointer moving over a dial. Until computers started to dominate science and technology in the earlyĭecades of the 20th century, virtually every measuring instrument wasĪnalog. Subtle definition, it uses its pointer to show a representation (or analogy) of the temperature on Photo: This dial thermometer shows temperature with a pointer and dial. That's really what the term analog means. Isn't your finger, of course-it's a representation of your finger:Īnother analogy. (a small segment of the ruler) is the same length as your finger. Wooden ruler, that little strip of wood or plastic you're looking at You measure the length of your finger and mark it on the surface of a The same is true when you measure something with a ruler. Thing as time itself: it's a representation or an analogy The point is that the hand's movements over theĭial are a way of representing passing time. That sounds incredibly obvious, but it's much more subtle Twice as much time has elapsed compared to if it had moved only one Hour hand sweeps across two segments of the dial, it's showing that Much the hands move is directly related to what time it is. If you have an analog watch, it tells the time with hands that sweep aroundĪ dial: the position of the hands is a measurement of the time. So what's it all about? What does analog actually mean? But the concept of analog technology often seems moreīaffling-especially when people try to explain it in pages like People accept digital things easily enough, often by thinking of themĪs electronic, computerized, and perhaps not even worth