analog computer
- noun
- /ˈænəˌlɔg kəmˈpjuːtər/
- Specialized
:
computadora analógica
- Long before our age of sky-simulation software and desktop planetaria, observers of the heavens used analog computers made of paper.
And so analog computers use gears, levers, pulleys.
- And so analog computers use gears, levers, pulleys.
- So that an analog computer actually solved the equation by creating the model and measuring the answer.
Examples
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Vannevar Bush was already famous as a designer of analog computers and also an expert in the field of micrographics.
Blog text (28) -
The torleta went back to the thirteenth century and was actually an analog computer used to solve trigonometric problems.
Fiction book (1999) -
Now, in the old days, people built analog computers to solve these kinds of things.
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See, in the same way, let's imagine that we're building an analog computer to solve some differential equation like.
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In quantum computers, as with classical analog computers, the space of legitimate states is continuous.
Academic text (1995) -
And so analog computers use gears, levers, pulleys.
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He creates the ultimate analog computer with hundreds of gears and levers and pulleys.
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Some of the greatest innovations in twentieth-century technology, like the analog computer, came out of Bell Labs; it was financed by a monopolist, AT&T. AT&T did not work under the discipline of the marketplace.
Academic text (1993) -
An analog computer can simulate complex systems by using continuously variable physical quantities.
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Engineers often used analog computers in the past to perform calculations involving electrical circuits.
How Analog
- Specialized
- Specialized
3
3.7
Surface Forms
Morphology
The adjective 'analog' (continuous signals) directly modifies 'computer' (device that processes information), so the combined meaning — a computer that processes continuously variable physical quantities — is compositionally predictable from the parts. This is a straightforward adjective + noun construction with no idiomatic or metaphorical shift, and the logic is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both words should understand it.
Etymology
Analog computer comes from early machines that used moving parts or changing voltages to make a physical 'copy' of a problem. Because analog meant a physical 'copy' and computer the machine, analog computer now means a device that works with 'continuous' physical signals instead of separate digital numbers.