Overview

Facts which at first seem improbable will, even on scant explanation, drop the cloak which has hidden them and stand forth in naked and simple beauty.

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642): Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences, 1638

The basis of our ability to analyse circuits lies in the various circuit laws arising from the requirements of the underlying physics, together with a number of higher level techniques which we can derive from these. Of course there is no dividing line between these, usually mathematical, techniques and any level of more complex systems, but there are a number of more generally useful ideas that practitioners have over time come to agree as necessary for all to know, or at least to know, of. We will all have some variation as to what is desirable and what is essential, but I can only write about those that have been important to me. Books which cover 'all' techniques generally tend to be very large and require a considerable number of authors, for example Chen (1995) with 2861 pages and 114 authors! But if you can manage to lift it you will find many things there.

The present book is only a companion whose aim is to provide refreshment or a reminder, or an encouragement to experiment, so the various topics will be approached in this vein rather than going through development from first principles. References are provided which can direct you to further information should you so require.

Division of material between the parts...