In the 1970's, with the advent of the computer, we have opened the door to combining imaging energies and the mathematical computational power of the computer. At the heart of most modern day imaging units is a computer. A computer consists of several essential components. There must be an input device, such as a keyboard, scanning bed, or mouse. Most computers we use on a daily basis will have a screen or monitor for visual output and usually a set of speakers for audio output.
Every computer has an input device, a memory of some sort, a processor, and an output device.
Another characteristic of a computer is that it is digital uses a special number based language to process data, the binary language. Everything a computer processes or communicates is represented by a series of ones and zeros. Changing any of the numbers in the series results in a different shade of gray or color or sound. Just think how many different shades of gray a series of just eight binary numbers could create. I think you get the idea.