Linear Circuit Analysis
1. Introduction
2. Basic Concepts
- Currents and voltages
- Linear circuits
- Linear components
- Loops and nodes
- Series and parallel
- R, L & C combinations
- V & I combinations
- Power and energy
3. Simple Circuits
- Ohm's law
- Kirchhoff's current law
- Kirchhoff's voltage law
- Single loop circuits
- Single node-pair circuits
- Voltage division
- Current division
4. Nodal and Mesh Analysis
5. Additional Analysis Techniques
- Superposition
- Source transformation
- The $V_{test}/I_{test}$ method
- Norton equivalent
- Thévenin equivalent
- Max power transfer
6. AC Analysis
7. Operational Amplifiers
8. Laplace Transforms
9. Time-Dependent Circuits
- Introduction
- First-order transients
- Nodal analysis
- Mesh analysis
- Laplace transforms
- Additional techniques
10. Two-port networks
Nodes
A node is a collection of wires that are connected to each other. A circuit can have multiple nodes. For instance, the circuit shown in Fig. 1 has 5 nodes labeled $v_1$, $v_2$, $v_3$, $v_4$, and $v_5$.
Sometimes, one of the nodes is called the ground node. For instance, the circuits showed in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 contain 4 nodes labeled $v_1$, $v_2$, $v_3$, and $v_4$, and the ground node (5 nodes in total). Notice that the two circuits have the same topology and will have the same solution.
Any circuit should contain at least 2 nodes (see Fig. 4). When the circuit contains only 2 nodes, it is called a single node-pair circuit.
Nodal analysis is a method based on Kirchhoff’s Current Law (KCL) that can be used to analyze electric circuits.