Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Analog |
AnalogAdjective1. (electronics) of a circuit or device having an output that is proportional to the input; "analogue device"; "linear amplifier". Noun1. Something having the property of being analogous to something else. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "analog" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1985. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Computing | Analog |
Aerospace | In computers, pertaining to the use of physical variables such as voltage, distance, rotation, etc. To represent numerical variable as in analog computer, analog output . Compare digital. (references) |
Health | In chemistry, a substance that is similar, but not identical, to another. (references) |
Weather | A large-scale weather pattern of the past that is similar to a current situation in its essential characteristics. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
An analog (or analogue, non-US spelling) signal is any continuously variable signal. It differs from a digital signal in that small fluctuations in the signal are meaningful. Analog is usually thought of in an electrical context, however mechanical, pneumatic, hydraulic and other systems also use analog signals.
An analog signal uses some property of the medium to convey the signal's information. For example an aneroid barometer uses rotary position as the signal to convey pressure information. Electrically, the property most commonly used is voltage followed closely by current and charge.
Another method of conveying an analog signal is to use modulation. In this, some base signal (eg a sinusoidal carrier wave) has one of its properties altered: amplitude modulation involves altering the amplitude of a sinusoidal voltage waveform by the source information, frequency modulation changes the frequency. Other techniques, such as changing the phase of the base signal also work.
Any information may be conveyed by an analog signal, often such a signal is a measured response to changes in physical phenomena, such as sound, light, temperature, position, or pressure and is achieved using a transducer.
Analog circuits do not involve quantisation of information into digital format. The concept being measured over the circuit, whether sound, light, pressure, temperature or an exceeded limit, remains from end to end.
Clocks with hands are called analog, those with digits digital. However a traditional analog clock is actually digital since the hands do not move in a smooth continuous motion, but in small steps every second or half a second.
The word "analog" implies an analogy between cause and effect, voltage in and voltage out, current in and current out, sound in and frequency out.
For example, in an analog sound recording, the frequency of a pure tone striking a microphone creates a corresponding variation in the current passing through it. An increase in the volume of the sound causes the fluctuation of current to increase while keeping the same rhythm.
The primary disadvantage of analog signalling is that any system has noise in it -- that is, random variations. As the signal is copied and re-copied, or transmitted over long distances, these random variations become dominant. Electrically these losses are lessened by shielding, good connections and several cable types such as coax and twisted pair.
The effects of noise make signal loss and distortion impossible to recover, since amplifying the signal to recover attenuated parts of the signal amplifies the noise as well.
See digital for a discussion of digital vs. analog.
Sources: Some of an earlier version of this article was originally taken from from Federal Standard 1037C in support of MIL-STD-188.
See also:
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Analog."
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
| ANACOM | English | Analog computer | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonyms: AnalogSynonyms: linear (adj), analogue (n), parallel (n). (additional references) |
| Antonym: digital (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Instantaneity | Clock, wall clock, pendulum clock, grandfather's clock, cuckoo clock, alarm clock, clock radio; watch, pocket watch, stopwatch, Swiss watch; atomic clock, digital clock, analog clock, quartz watch, water clock; chronometer, chronoscope, chronograph; repeater; timekeeper, timepiece; dial, sundial, gnomon, horologe, pendulum, hourglass, clepsydra; ghurry. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Analog |
| English words defined with "analog": cathexis, charge ♦ differential analyzer, digitisation, digitization ♦ Nyquist rate ♦ slide rule, slipstick. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "analog": Analog Hardware Design Language, analog to digital conversion ♦ Digital to Analog Converter. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Analog" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Albanian (analog), Czech (analog, analogue), Danish (analogous), German (analog, analogical, analogous, analogue), Indonesian (analog), Romanian (analogically, analogous, like, parallel, similar, similarly), Serbo-Croatian (analog), Swedish (analogous), Turkish (analogue). |
| Domain | Title | ||
References | |||
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Periodicals |
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Music |
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High Tech |
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Consumer Goods |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Analog Computing Machine in Fuel Systems Building. Credit: NASA. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | The development of a quick-acting insulin analog. (references) | |
Business | Automotive lifts, analog engine tuners, and paint spray boots are major items made in Thailand. (references) | |
Motorola's microprocessors and logic and analog ICs are used in communications product manufacturing. (references) | ||
Currently, STC serves subscribers through a network that is 60 per cent analog and 40 per cent digital. (references) | ||
Civil Liberties | Botswana | A private analog television service from South Africa was discontinued in 2000 when the company scrambled the signal and required viewers to pay to receive the service. (references) |
Zambia | The Government owns the sole local-content television station, the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC). Multichoice, a telecommunications company based in South Africa, provides satellite and analog wireless subscribers with television services. (references) | |
Economic History | Bangladesh | About 40.0% of these lines use analog switches, mostly from Siemens. (references) |
Trade | Eq. Guinea | Equatorial Guinea has transformed its telecommunications system from analog to digital technology. (references) |
Travel | Bulgaria | In some parts of the country, telephoning can be difficult, as many rural areas still have only old analog switches. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Analog" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 66.67% of the time. "Analog" is used about 9 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 66.67% | 6 | 143,867 |
| Noun (proper) | 22.22% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 11.11% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 9 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Country | Name |
| USA | Analog Devices Incorporated |
| (more examples...) |
Source: compiled by the editor from Icon Group International, Inc.
Expressions using "analog": analog computer ♦ analog control ♦ analog data ♦ analog DI ♦ analog dielectric isolation ♦ analog gate ♦ analog Hardware Design Language ♦ analog information ♦ analog line module ♦ analog mode ♦ analog ramp ♦ analog signal processing ♦ analog trunk ♦ analog watch ♦ component analog video ♦ digital to analog converter ♦ multiplexed analog component ♦ multiplexed analog component video ♦ nucleoside analog. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "analog": analog-digital, Analog-Digital Conversion, analog-digital converter, analog-pulse, analog-to-digital, analog-to-digital converter, analog-to-digital-converter. | |
Ending with "analog": digital-to-analog, elemental-analog. | |
Containing "analog": digital-analog converter, digital-to-analog converter, Random Access Memory Digital-to-Analog Converter. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "analog"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | analog. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | заместител (analogue, makeshift, stand in, sub, substituent, substitute, succedaneum, surrogate), аналог (analogue). (various references) | |
Chinese | 模式 (Analogue). (various references) | |
Czech | analogový, analog (analogue). (various references) | |
Danish | analog (analogous). (various references) | |
Dutch | analoog (analogous). (various references) | |
Farsi | مانند (Analogous, Analogue, As, Like, Similar), نظیر (Analogue, Comparable, Like, Make, Match, Rival, Tally), لغت متشابه (Analogue), قیاسی (Analogical, Categorical, Inductive, Schematic), شی قابل قیاس (Analogue), شباهت (Analogue, Analogy, Equality, Likeness, Propinquity, Proportion, Resemblance, Semblance). (various references) | |
Finnish | analoginen (analogical, analogous). (various references) | |
French | analogique (analogical, analogous, analogue). (various references) | |
German | analog (analogical, analogous, analogue). (various references) | |
Greek | αναλογικός (analogue). (various references) | |
Hungarian | hasonló dolog (analogue, ditto, dittoes). (various references) | |
Indonesian | analog. (various references) | |
Italian | analogico (analogical). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | アナプラズマ病 (analog computer, analog speedometer, analogue, analysis, analyst, analyzer, anaplasmosis). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | アナログ (analogue). (various references) | |
Korean | 아 로그 (Analogue). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | analogay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | analógico (analogical), análogo (analogous, analogue, similar). (various references) | |
Russian | аналог аналоговый (analogue), аналог (analogue, counterpart, lookalike). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | analog. (various references) | |
Spanish | analógico (analogic, analogical), término análogo (analogue), cosa análoga (analogue), órgano análogo (analogue). (various references) | |
Swedish | analog (analogous). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | моделюючий пристрій (simulator), аналог (analogue). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "analog": analogic, analogical, analogically, analogies, analogist, analogists, analogize, analogized, analogizes, analogizing, analogous, analogously, analogousness, analogousnesses, analogs, analogue, analogues, analogy. (additional references) | |
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"Analog" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Anala, analar, analo, analoge, analor, analotg, analox, anaolog, Andalo, anlo, anlog, Annalong, Annelo, anolog, Arnolfo, Iznalloz, Nabaglo, narog, Panolog. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "analog" (pronounced a"nulô'g) |
| 6 | a" n u l ô' g | analogue. |
| 5 | -n u l ô' g | monologue. |
| 4 | -u l ô' g | catalogue, dialogue, epilogue, travelogue. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: agonal. | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-g-l-n-o" | |
-1 letter: alang, along, lagan, logan. | |
-2 letters: agon, alan, alga, anal, anga, anoa, gala, gaol, goal, lang, loan, long. | |
-3 letters: aal, aga, ago, ala, ana, gal, gan, goa, lag, log, nag, nog. | |
-4 letters: aa, ag, al, an, go, la, lo, na, no, on. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-a-g-l-n-o" | |
+1 letter: analogs, analogy, gonadal, granola, logania. | |
+2 letters: analogic, analogue, diagonal, gonadial, granolas, kaoliang, lagoonal, largando, magnolia, tagalong. | |
+3 letters: analogies, analogist, analogize, analogous, analogues, coagulant, diagonals, gallonage, granuloma, halloaing, hexagonal, kaoliangs, magnolias, nostalgia, octagonal, oxalating, synagogal, tagalongs. | |
+4 letters: aboriginal, algolagnia, allargando, allegation, allocating, anagogical, analogical, analogists, analogized, analogizes, angulation, arrogantly, caracoling, carmagnole, cataloging, coagulants, diagonally, gallonages, glaciation, granulator, granulomas, gyrational, halogenate, heptagonal, negational, nostalgias, organismal, pentagonal, sporangial, tetragonal, topgallant, zabaglione. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Non-fiction 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Names: Company Usage 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Abbreviations 14. Acronyms 15. Derivations 16. Rhymes | 17. Anagrams 18. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
