Comment by 🚀 stack
Re: "What is analog computing? The basic idea is there is some…"
I've never heard of 'analog computing' used as in modeling some behavior. Have you really?
2025-12-29 · 4 months ago
1 Later Comment
🚀 Analog_Guy [OP] · Dec 29 at 21:32:
Professor Ulmann gives a similar explanation in his book, "Analog Computing", ISBN 978-3110787610. I do not have the book on hand, right now, or I would try to give a better reference. I believe he also pointed out that analog computing does not mean "non-discrete" as even electronic analog computers are computationally discrete down at the electron level.
The core idea is that there is a physical analogue between the computation and the computational device. "Modeling some behavior" is not exactly the same thing as that, although modeling behavior was a very common use of electronic analog computers. Slide rules are analog computing devices, but they do not really model or simulate any system.
Original Post
What is analog computing? The basic idea is there is some physical analog between the computing device and the computing to be performed. A slide rule is a non-electronic computing device in which the analog is physical distances on logarithmic scales. A traditional electronic analog computer represents values as varying voltages which are feed through computing elements like integrators and multipliers.