one of the two types of computers, the other being an analog computer. A digital computer operates by counting data represented by coded characters such as numbers, letters, and symbols.
type of computer that represents information in discrete form, as opposed to an analog computer, which allows representations to vary along a continuum. All modern general-purpose electronic computers are digital.
a computer that represents information in discrete form, as opposed to an analog computer, which allows representation to vary along a continuum. For example, the temperature of a room might be any value between 0° and 100°F. An analog computer could represent this as a continuously varying voltage between 0.00 and 1.00 volts. In contrast, a digital computer would have to represent it as a decimal or binary number with a specific number of digits (e.g., 68.80 or 68.81).
A digital computer is more accurate than an analog computer because it only needs to sense the difference between clearly distinguishable states. For example, a slight voltage fluctuation would affect the result in an analog computer, but a slight voltage fluctuation would not affect a digital computer because the computer could still easily distinguish the 0 state from the 1 state of any circuit element. For the same reason, digital music reproduction (e.g., a compact disc) is more accurate than analog reproductions (e.g., a traditional record).
