analog computing

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  • DARPA taps golden age computers to solve tough simulations

    by 
    Steve Dent
    Steve Dent
    03.20.2015

    If you thought modern computers were fast enough to solve any problem, nope! While certainly powerful, modern supercomputers aren't always great at complex fluid and plasma dynamic simulations, and DARPA, the outfit that does science for the US defense department, wants to fix that. To do so, it's invoking to the age of analog computers, "which solve equations by manipulating continuously changing values instead of discrete measurements." As an example, it cited the Norden bombsight, which calculated bomb trajectories using analog methods. That said, it's not planning on going back to vacuum tubes and rotating capacitors.