Analog vs. Digital

You may have heard of analog and digital, and what makes both of them special or more favored than the other. Some people may say that analog is better and more accurate, whereas others may argue that digital can be easier to use and can hold more data. 

Analog pretty much means an analogy of something, or representation. An analog clock is not time itself, but it represents time, or is an analogy of it. A ruler is not the measurement, but a representation of measurement. Analog recordings are the waves on the device. Analog technology is a representation of something, just like an analog clock. 

Digital data is stored as numbers, or digits. A digital clock shows the numbers rather than the moving clock hands of the analog clock. Digital recordings take the sound and convert it into digits to be stored. All digital data is stored as digits. 

Some people think that analog data is much more accurate than digital data. Why? Well, let's go back to the clock example. On the analog clock, you can physically see the second, minute and hour hands moving around in circles as an analogy of time. On a a digital clock, all you see is the numbers changing every so often. This is why people tend to think that analog is more accurate: you can see everything changing and can make a more accurate assumption of the time. Besides, if you've ever listened to an audiobook or podcast on a digital device, the words might not be so clear. They could be saying, 'the dog jumped over the stick', but you could hear, 'the dog was very sick' and make a wrong assumption of the story. People tend to think that analog is much more accurate than digital, although both of them have their pros and cons. 

S&EP: Models

This week, I used models to compare analog and digital graphs. I noticed that, when plotting on a digital graph, the lines were much less accurate than on the analog graph. It could be possible to make the digital graph as accurate, but it would be difficult. Instead of plotting every one or 0.5 on the graph, we would need to plot every single decimal point and be very precise with the numbers to make them the same accuracy. Overall, this model helped me see the reason in the argument that analog is generally more accurate, although there are some things that digital is better at that analog. While comparing the digital graphs I made to the analog graph given, I noticed that I would need to be incredibly precise if I were to make the digital graphs as accurate as the analog one. 

Analog graph

Digital graph1.comparison

Digital graph2.comparison

XCC: Scale, Proportion and Quantity

When I was making my digital graphs based off of the analog graph, I noticed that the scale of the digital graph was different than the analog graph. The analog graph had a curved line, and the digital graph had a kind of straight, clunky type of line. I noticed that to have a curved line like the analog graph did, the points on the digital graph would have to be much more close together than every one or 0.5 on the graph. There would need to be much more often intervals than there are on either of the graphs in order for the line to be as accurate or even close to the accuracy on the analog graph.