Analog Computers
 

I just found this
(a physicist working for Microsoft pointed it out in a Channel 9 video: http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/Charl...-the-Universe/)
and thought you guys might like it:

http://www.metafilter.com/89205/Basi...trol-Computers

See Part1 and Part 2 links in the text for the actual videos.

An analog computer is a form of computer that uses the continuously-changeable aspects of physical phenomena such as electrical, mechanical,or hydraulic quantities to model the problem being solved.In contrast,digital computers represent varying quantities incrementally, as their numerical values change.In an analog computer, quantities represent they are analogous to quantities in the problem being solved. In operation, analog computers contain a mathematical model of the problem.In popular usage, analog has come to refer to devices and media that represent and store images,sound,motion pictures, etc. as analogs of what they represent, while digital devices basically work with numerical representations,using analog to digital conversion for input, and often digital to analog conversion for output.