Har, har, Tom... Transitive Verb:
Infinitive *to discretize* Third person singular *discretizes <http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/discretizes>* Simple past *discretized <http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/discretized>* Past participle *discretized <http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/discretized>* Present participle *discretizing <http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/discretizing>* *to discretize* (/third-person singular simple present/ *discretizes <http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/discretizes>*, /present participle/ *discretizing <http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/discretizing>*, /simple past and past participle/ *discretized <http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/discretized>*) This is not a "New Age" word at all. It refers to a process which has been taken from one with */continuous/* variables (variable capacitors, roller inductors) to one in which the L,C components are fixed, but relays switch from one discrete value to another, as in most automatic antenna tuners. ATUs are not "discrete" (can any of them keep a secret?) but rather "discretized" -- big difference. I think you need a new dictionary. My vocabulary training took place in a very conservative (not-quite) one-room school house many many years ago. Although we didn't use "Horn Books," we did practice Palmer Penmanship (which I hated). I graduated from high school in 1950. I might add that the "Fast Fourier Transform," which is so important in communications and with which you are doubtless familiar, is a species of DFT, "discretized Fourier Transform," where the integral sign of a normal FT is replaced by a summation sign, and the signal is chopped up into small but finite bits. To call it a "discrete" FT again risks wondering about its ability to keep secrets. ;-) There doesn't seem to be a word that refers to the reverse process, but it would be something like "continuous-ized" if it did exist (which it doesn't, thankfully). 73, JLR ================================== Radio Amateur N5GE wrote: > On Fri, 26 Mar 2010 21:25:45 -0400, John Ragle <tpcj1...@crocker.com> > wrote: > > Dr. Ragle, > > What does the word discretized mean? I looked in the dictionary and > can't find it. Is it one of those new "ized/tized" words that buzz > word users are so fond of now days? > > Wouldn't it be easier and more concise to type discrete? > > TOM, N5GE BT > > 73 ES GUD LUK > AR DE N5GE SK > ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html