Teach Yourself Electricity and Electronics, Sixth Edition, 6th Edition

28

CHAPTER

Digital Basics

ENGINEERS AND TECHNICIANS CALL AN ELECTRONIC SIGNAL DIGITAL WHEN IT CAN ATTAIN A LIMITED number of well-defined states. Digital signals contrast with analog signals, which vary over a continuous range and, therefore, can, in theory, attain infinitely many different instantaneous states. Figure 28-1 shows an example of an analog signal (at A) and a digital signal (at B).

28-1   An analog wave (A) and a digital rendition of the same wave (B).

Numeration Systems

In everyday life, most of us deal with the decimal number system, which makes use of digits from the set {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9}. Machines, such as computers ...