A device that performs operations on data that are represented within the device by continuous variables having a physical resemblance to the quantities being represented Note: The earliest analog computers were constructed with purely mechanical components, such as levers, cogs, cams, discs, and gears These components represented the quantities being manipulated or the operator-inserted values Modern analog computers usually employ electrical parameters, such as voltages, resistances, or currents to represent the quantities being manipulated
A computer in which numerical data are represented by measurable physical variables, such as electrical voltage. Computer in which continuously variable physical quantities, such as electrical potential, fluid pressure, or mechanical motion, are used to represent (analogously) the quantities in the problem to be solved. The analog system is set up according to initial conditions and then allowed to change freely. Answers to the problem are obtained by measuring the variables in the analog model. Analog computers are especially well suited to simulating dynamic systems; such simulations may be conducted in real time or at greatly accelerated rates, allowing experimentation by performing many runs with different variables. They have been widely used in simulating the operation of aircraft, nuclear power plants, and industrial chemical processes. See also digital computer
A computing machine that works on the principle of measuring, as distinct from counting, in which the measurements obtained (as voltages, resistances, etc ) are translated into desired data