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Flip to reveal answersDefine analogue and digital signals.
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Question
Define analogue and digital signals.
Answer
Analogue: any value between its limits, changing continuously. Digital: only a fixed set of discrete values, usually two — on and off, 1 and 0.
Question
What is lost when an analogue signal is digitised?
Answer
Everything between the samples, and the difference between each reading and the nearest available level. More bits and faster sampling reduce both without removing them.
Question
Why is digital better for storage and transmission?
Answer
A receiver only has to tell a 1 from a 0, so noise picked up on the way is discarded rather than accumulated. The thousandth copy is identical to the first.
Question
Why is almost every product both analogue and digital?
Answer
Because the world is analogue at both ends. A microphone senses continuous air pressure, the signal is digitised for processing and transmission, then converted back for a loudspeaker.
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