Book Review

Teach Yourself Algebra for Electric Circuits
author - K. W. Jenkins
McGraw-Hill - ©2002

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Synopsis As readers of this ezine's Fundamentals articles know, surprisingly, most electrical circuit analysis is not complex mathematics, but based upon straight forward algebra. It uses no calculus. Teach Yourself Algebra for Electric Circuits goes a long way de-mystifying circuit design for newbies, and is a good refresher text for practitioners who are getting a bit "fuzzy" about the details of electrical network analysis. The book assume no prior knowledge of electronics, only a very general level of algebra. The book begins with a basic background survey of electro-magnetic field theory to define some of the common terms such as "voltage", "charge", "current." It then proceeds directly to network analysis. By the end of the book, the reader will have good understanding of the basic electrical and electro-magnetic components and a quantitative understanding of their behavior in electric circuits. Along the way, some fairly "heavy" electrical engineering topics such as complex variables, Z-transforms are covered, all using algebra.

Area of Interest
Network Analysis, Analog Design

Audience
This book is targeted to anyone interested in electric circuit analysis. It does not use any calculus in its presentation of material. Basic algebra is assumed. Where more advanced algebra is required, it is presented in the book prior to its use in network analysis.

Topics
This books covers all aspects of electrical circuit analysis from very simple applications of Ohm's Law to complex Two-Port Networks. It ends with a brief discussion of digital filtering and the z-transform.

The book, as the title indicates, relies upon algebra for its mathematical presentation of the material. This is not a limitation. On the contrary, prior to the advent of computers, much of engineering theory was directed to modeling electrical behavior of components so that networks could be readily solved using algebra.

Organization
This book is organized as general introduction to circuit analysis, pretty much as an electrical engineering student would receive his sophomore year in college. The only difference is that purely mathematic derivation of the theoretical is reduced in deference to the more practice application of the theory and problem solving.

Chapters 1 starts off with a basic discussion of electromagnetic field theory. The basic equations of charge, field strength etc... are presented. This is perhaps the only capture which could have used some calculus to show how the equations are derived, but this is not a limiting factor for what follows.

Chapters 2- 4 cover DC network analysis. Starting with Ohm's law, various methods of analysis networks are presented, as well as the mathematical methods (all algebra), such as matrices and determinants used to analyze networks.

Chapters 5-7 Introduce topics related to AC behavior, and the tools such as the algebra of complex numbers needed to analyze AC networks.

Chapters 8- 11 get into the details of AC circuit analysis. Along the way details such as impedance matching, filtering, magnetic coupling and two-port networks are covered.

Finally captures 12 - 13 take a brief foray into the digital domain with a brief presentation of boolean algebra ending with a brief discussion of digital filters and the z-transform.

Where to buy
You can purchase this book online from amazon.com

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