Digital

Digital describes a representation of information using a finite number of discrete values.

The counterpart of analogue, it denotes the representation of data or physical magnitudes using characters - usually numbers - and also systems, devices or procedures using this mode of discrete representation.

The progress of information and communication technologies is mainly based on a fundamental technical innovation: digitisation. Using traditional, so-called analogue systems, the signals (radio, television etc.) are conveyed in the form of continuous electrical waves. With digitising, these signals are coded as series of numbers which in turn are often represented in the binary system as groups of 0 and 1. The signal is then made up of a discontinuous set of numbers: it has become a computer file.

The words numeric and numerical are also used with the same meaning as digital.