Which statement describes a potential disadvantage of digital data?

Which statement describes a potential disadvantage of digital data?

• A. It always has higher quality than analogue
• B. As a result of sampling, data is lost so digital data may be less accurate and of lower quality than analogue
• C. Digital storage generally requires more physical space
• D. It cannot be copied

Answer: (B)

Digital data represents real-world signals by sampling the continuous signal at regular intervals and quantizing those samples to a limited set of values. If the sampling rate is too low or the bit depth is too small, information from the original analogue is not captured with full fidelity, leading to inaccuracies or distortion in the digital version. This potential loss of information during sampling and quantization is a real drawback of digital representations, because it means the digital form may be less accurate than the original analogue under suboptimal conditions. When the sampling rate and bit depth are chosen appropriately, digital can be very accurate, but the described disadvantage reflects a genuine caveat. The other statements don’t describe a typical inherent drawback: digital can be very high quality, it can be stored efficiently or densely, and it can be copied without degradation.

Digital data represents real-world signals by sampling the continuous signal at regular intervals and quantizing those samples to a limited set of values. If the sampling rate is too low or the bit depth is too small, information from the original analogue is not captured with full fidelity, leading to inaccuracies or distortion in the digital version. This potential loss of information during sampling and quantization is a real drawback of digital representations, because it means the digital form may be less accurate than the original analogue under suboptimal conditions. When the sampling rate and bit depth are chosen appropriately, digital can be very accurate, but the described disadvantage reflects a genuine caveat. The other statements don’t describe a typical inherent drawback: digital can be very high quality, it can be stored efficiently or densely, and it can be copied without degradation.