A computer that processes analog data is known as an analog computer. Analog computers store information in physical quantities in a continuous format and use measurements to perform computation.

When your only tool is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail. That’s an old saying and perhaps somewhat obvious, but our tools do color our solutions and sometimes in very subtle ways. For ...

At one time a scientist or engineer trying to solve a tough problem with electronic computation had the choice of an analog computer, a digital computer, or both together in a hybrid configuration.

Just recently, I received a note from Professor Yannis Tsividis of Columbia University, who happened to read a blog I wrote in 2007 on analog computers. In that blog, I ended by saying that “I ...