High blood cholesterol levels can cause hardening of the arteries at a younger age. For many people, high cholesterol levels are the result of an unhealthy lifestyle -- most commonly, eating a diet that is high in fat. Other risk factors are heavy alcohol use, lack of exercise, and being overweight.
Freebase(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition: Comparator. In electronics, a comparator is a device that compares two voltages or currents and switches its output to indicate which is larger. They are commonly used in devices such as analog-to-digital converters.
A comparator normally changes its output state when the voltage between its inputs crosses through approximately zero volts. Small voltage fluctuations due to noise, always present on the inputs, can cause undesirable rapid changes between the two output states when the input voltage difference is near zero volts.