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What is the difference between encoding and modulation?

I have seen these terms used sometimes inter-changeably and sometimes differently (the ratio is 50:50).

Can somebody clearly explain this with some non-technical and technical examples both? I have searched this a lot on net and in the end I end up scratching my head.

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    $\begingroup$ If my question lacks any kind of details just inform me please so that I can make improvements :) $\endgroup$
    – 0decimal0
    Aug 22, 2013 at 8:29

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Modulation: Way to send signals (information) from one place to another. exanmple: you have a carrier wave like a sine wave and your Information signal 10101010 or any analog signal you want to transmit. You simply just change the properties of carrier wave with respect to your signal. Like: AM, FM, ASK, PSK, QAM

Encoding: Somthing else than modulation. It is representation of data. Example: 5Volts could be 1 or 0 according to logic (examples are Unipolar encoding, Bipolar Encoding).

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Encoding is about assigning different binary codes according to a particular algorithm.

Modulation is about changing the properties of one signal value according to a certain properties (Amplitude, Phase, or Frequency) of another signal.

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In Fourier analysis we realized that we could represent any kind of periodic functions with sine and cosine functions.
Signals are functions that represent a variable with respect to another variable that is usually time.
So instead of sending different signals (data) over and over again we could think of them all as sine functions with some differences, so we define a sine signal called carrier and when we want to send data that could be represented as periodic signals and therefore as sine waves, we would change some properties of the carrier signal so that it is equivalent to our signal. on the other end the carrier signal would be created and they compare the incoming changed (modulated) signal with the carrier one and so extract or detect the main signal thus the data.
The representation of the data using different kind of signals is called encoding, but mounting signals on sine waves known as carrier signals in order to transmit them in a better way is called modulation as modulate itself means mounting.

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