1. to restrict a quantity to discrete values rather than a continuous range
Usage: physics; mathematics
2. to convert an analog signal into digital form by sampling at regular intervals
Usage: electronics; computing

Examples

• The physicist needed to quantize the energy levels in the atom.
• Digital audio systems quantize sound waves into discrete samples.
• The computer quantizes the continuous voltage signal into binary data.
• In quantum mechanics, angular momentum is quantized.
• The analog-to-digital converter quantizes the input signal.
• Engineers quantize the image data to reduce file size.