View source for Digital data

'''Digital data''', in [[information theory]] and [[Information system|information systems]], are discrete, discontinuous [[Data (computing)|data]] representating of [[information]].

== Description ==

Although digital representations are the subject matter of discrete mathematics, the information represented can be either discrete, such as numbers and letters, or it can be continuous, such as sounds, images, and other measurements.

The word digital comes from the same source as the words ''digit'' and ''digitus'' (the Latin word for finger), as fingers are often used for discrete counting. Mathematician George Stibitz of Bell Telephone Laboratories used the word digital in reference to the fast electric pulses emitted by a device designed to aim and fire anti-aircraft guns in 1942.

The term is most commonly used in [[computing]] and electronics, especially where real-world information is converted to binary numeric form as in digital audio and digital photography.

== Analog signals ==

By contrast, [[Analog signal|analog signals]] behave in a continuous manner, or represent information using a [[continuous function]].

== See also ==

* [[Computation]] 
* [[Computer]] 
* [[Computing]] 
* [[Data (computing)]] 
* [[Information]] 
* [[Information theory]]
* [[Information system]]
* [[Metadata]]
* [[Timestamp]]

== External links ==

* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_data Digital data]

[[Category:Computer science]]
[[Category:Data]]