The most common type of quantization is known as scalar quantization. Scalar quantization, typically denoted as, is the process of using a quantization function ( ) to map a scalar (one-dimensional) input value to a scalar output value . Scalar quantization can be as simple and intuitive as rounding high-precision numbers to the nearest integer, or to the nearest multiple of some other unit of precision (such as rounding a large monetary amount to the nearest thousand dollars). Scalar quantization of continuous-valued input data that is performed by an electronic sensor is referred to as analog-to-digital conversion. Analog-to-digital conversion often also involves sampling the signal periodically in time (e.g., at 44.1 kHz for CD-quality audio signals).
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