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.
The illustration pictured here should appear familiar to anyone who has spent any time in a quality control lab or on a factory floor. This is a picture of the venerable optical comparator. The reason we start with this illustration is to prove a significant point. The source of this illustration is from patent #1,903,933, filed May 21, 1925.