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What is a Computer Monitor?

The monitor is a computer part that has a screen that shows the virtual image of what is going on "inside" the computer. That is, in the computer screen we see various virtual objects such as the mouse cursor, our files, the applications, and whatever texts and visual graphical effects. The screen is the only way we have to "see" the software inside the computer.

An LCD monitor LG Flatron w2234s on a computer desk, showing the desktop of the Windows 7 operating system, with a cat next to it.
An LCD monitor showing Windows 7's desktop. Photo: Gordon Robertson via Flickr. License: CC BY 2.0.

There are many types of monitors. The old monitors, called CRT, were thick and usually white. Modern monitors have LCD screens (of liquid crystal) or LED (of luminous diodes), and are a lot thinner; they also started being black instead of white.

Monitors come in various sizes. When we say a monitor has X inches or centimeters we're saying that a diagonal line from one corner to the other of the monitor would have X inches. This is the hypotenuse of a triangle created from the width and height the monitor. A "20 inch" monitor could have, for example 12 inches of height and 16 of width, given that 122 + 162 = 202.

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