analog computer

American  

noun

1. a computer that represents data by measurable quantities, as voltages or, formerly, the rotation of gears, in order to solve a problem, rather than by expressing the data as numbers.

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analog computer British  

noun

1. a mechanical, electrical, or electronic computer that performs arithmetical operations by using some variable physical quantity, such as mechanical movement or voltage, to represent numbers

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Etymology

Origin of analog computer

An Americanism dating back to 1945–50

Example Sentences

His analog computer, a brass calculating machine, used gears and pulleys to represent the 10 most important tidal components and recorded the predictions on a rolling piece of paper.

From Slate • Jun. 6, 2014

The company's proudest boast is that it was tapped by the Navy to build the computer that aims and orients the Polaris missile, replacing a less effective General Electric analog computer.

From Time Magazine Archive

But the onetime professor at M.I.T.--where he built a massive, gear-driven analog computer called the differential analyzer--was also a prophet.

From Time Magazine Archive

Trained as an electrical engineer, in the 1920s he had invented a machine known as a differential analyzer: an analog computer whose digital offspring would dominate the information age.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

For flat runs, he had the Norden bombsight, an extremely sophisticated analog computer that, at $8,000, cost more than twice the price of the average American home.

From "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand