Analog Displays — The Other Approach to LCD’s

Before the recent development of digital displays, electronic information was indicated by the position of a hand or length of a bar relative to some scale. Such a display is referred to as an analog display and has certain advantages over the digital display. Analog displays are easier to read when rapid acquisition of approximate information is needed. One can interpret the distance from the current reading to another point without arithmetic. Another advantage is the natural manner in which rate of change of information comes from the velocity of the hand. These advantages are directly related to the long learning process which is necessary to understand an analog display and the ease with which the position of a hand can be recognized versus the presence of several digital segments.