Linear predictive coding

Linear predictive coding (LPC) is a way of using math to make a sound that is similar to a real sound. It starts with a recording of a real sound. To make LPC work, scientists break up the sound into lots of very small pieces, and then use math to describe how each of the pieces have changed over time. Then, they can use the math equation to recreate the sound. It's a bit like if you had to break an image into hundreds of tiny squares, and then used a bunch of numbers to describe how each of the squares looked. Then, if you had the same numbers, you could put together the picture again. That's how LPC works with sound.