Understanding Analog Signals & AC

Join the discussion
Ask a follow-up here, or get your own question answered by working scientists, mathematicians and engineers — people, not an autocomplete.
Real named experts · corrections over time · the nuance an AI answer skips
6 replies · 2K views
Victor89
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Also can we have an analog signal in alternating current?
 
Engineering news on Phys.org
A sine wave is an analog signal. Alternating current is nothing BUT analog, so I don't even understand how you can ask the question. I think you must have been given some VERY misleading information about what is digital and what is analog.
 
Thank you for your answer, I was a bit confused that's why I asked this question.

I wasn't sure if my thinking was correct but now I see that I was correct.

At a test I gave the example of an analog signal as a sine wave.
 
You can have a digital representation of a sine wave as well. I wouldn't have given you credit on an exam answered in that fashion if I was grading. You can have a signal, either analog or digital, that is sinusoidal, but a sine is not descriptive enough to distinguish between an analog and a digital signal.
 
I was asked to draw a continuous signal and I draw a sine wave, which it is continuous.
Can someone provide me other(better) examples?

Thanks in advance.
 
Victor89 said:
I was asked to draw a continuous signal and I draw a sine wave, which it is continuous.
Can someone provide me other(better) examples?

Thanks in advance.

You did just fine. There is no need for any "better" example.
 
A "digital" version of a sine wave would be something like the output from a Digital to Analog Converter (DAC). Do you know what a sine wave output from a DAC would look like, and how it would be different from the analog sine wave that you drew on the test?