Network Theorems

A major advantage of analyzing circuits using Kirchhoff's laws as we did in previous chapters is that we can analyze a circuit without tampering with its original configuration. A major disadvantage of this approach is that, for a large, complex circuit, tedious computation is involved. The growth in areas of application of electric circuits has led to an evolution from simple to complex circuits. To handle the complexity, engineers over the years have developed some theorems to simplify circuit analysis. Such theorems include Thevenin's and Norton's theorems. Since these theorems are applicable to linear circuits, we first discuss the concept of circuit linearity. In addition to circuit theorems, we discuss the concepts of superposition, and maximum power transfer in this chapter. The concepts we develop are applied in the last section to source modeling and resistance measurement. Electric circuit theorems are always beneficial to help find voltage and currents in multi-loop circuits. These theorems use fundamental rules or formulas and basic equations of mathematics to analyze basic components of electrical or electronics parameters such as voltages, currents, resistance, and so on. These fundamental theorems include the basic theorems like Superposition theorem, Norton’s theorem, Maximum power transfer theorem, and Thevenin’s theorems. Another group of network theorems that are mostly used in the circuit analysis process includes the Substitution theorem, Reciprocity theorem, and Millman’s theorem.