Electrical Circuit Analysis Using the TI-85 or TI-86

Rating:
Summary: Acceptably good, but it could definitely be better.
Review: Apparently, the target audience for this book are students from engineering technology, but it is a useful introduction for any one willing to exploit the calculator in electrical circuits as well as other branches of technology. As Prof. Aston implies in the preface, present day programmable scientific calculators (including but not restricted to TI and HP families, I add) are in many way as powerful as expensive software packages for the analysis of electrical circuits; in fact, two chapters of the book are devoted to PSpice and Mathcad. These calculators are for all practical purposes portable computers with excellent software packages included.

The book includes many examples ilustrating fairly well the use of the TI86 in the analysis and design of circuits, complemented with end of chapter exercises. It emphasizes programming writing, which has both its advantages and drawbacks.

The first chapters consider DC and AC analysis of simple circuits, parallel series combinations, voltage and current divisions, elementary bandpass filters, not forgetting of course the use of complex numbers. Here, the examples introduce very well the use of the calculators in getting numerical and graphical results; in addition, the programming of particular topologies is welcome.

The loop and node methods in chapter 4 emphasize the AC mode, with the resistive dc mode as a special case. Some network properties are considered in chapter 5. My feeling is that these chapters do not exploit well the capabilities of the calculator. Even if not as powerful as the TI-92, the TI-86 allows more powerful treatment of these methods than what provided. The presentation given by the author follows the classical one presented in textbooks, namely, write down the equations, work the algebra to put them in matrix form and then use the calculator to solve this matrix equation. This procedure becomes cumbersome for large circuits; solving the matrix equation is the same for a 2x2 or a 20x20, as far as the calculator allows it. The big problem is to write down the equations and put them in matrix form, and this is where the calculator can be better applied. Programming of particular topologies such as bridged- T or delta-wye configurations is useful for people using these topologies very often. The author has missed however an opportunity to introduce students to the secrets of "circuit simulators", and to understand better what Spice does.

Chapter 7 deals with power, chapter 10 with transformers, mutual inductance and some passive filters structures; and chapter 11 works with circuits containing operational amplifiers as well as active filters. In all the chapters the use of the calculators is well illustrated through examples and programs for design and analyss of particular structures are given. The plots of frequency responses are well introduced for the examples.

Transient analysis of first order circuits is done in chapter 8 with emphasis in graphical results and the use of differential equations solver from the calculator. If you are interested in seeing how powerful can a calculator be for answering questions that students usually make about the usefullness and practical considerations regarding Fourier Series, chapter 9 provides a good introduction using the square wave in particular. Here again, the calculator can be further exploited.

Even if you find useful chapters 7 on PSpice and 12 on Mathcad, I cannot by wonder if they belong really to this book. I would better suggest them as appendices.

It seems that the book was intended as a textbook. However, I would not recommend it for a first try in learning circuits , although it constitutes a good companion for textbooks or else a reference book refreshing some concepts for those who had already been exposed to theory and prefer to concentrate on the tools.

Rating:
Summary: Acceptably good, but it could definitely be better.
Review: Apparently, the target audience for this book are students from engineering technology, but it is a useful introduction for any one willing to exploit the calculator in electrical circuits as well as other branches of technology. As Prof. Aston implies in the preface, present day programmable scientific calculators (including but not restricted to TI and HP families, I add) are in many way as powerful as expensive software packages for the analysis of electrical circuits; in fact, two chapters of the book are devoted to PSpice and Mathcad. These calculators are for all practical purposes portable computers with excellent software packages included.

The book includes many examples ilustrating fairly well the use of the TI86 in the analysis and design of circuits, complemented with end of chapter exercises. It emphasizes programming writing, which has both its advantages and drawbacks.

The first chapters consider DC and AC analysis of simple circuits, parallel series combinations, voltage and current divisions, elementary bandpass filters, not forgetting of course the use of complex numbers. Here, the examples introduce very well the use of the calculators in getting numerical and graphical results; in addition, the programming of particular topologies is welcome.

The loop and node methods in chapter 4 emphasize the AC mode, with the resistive dc mode as a special case. Some network properties are considered in chapter 5. My feeling is that these chapters do not exploit well the capabilities of the calculator. Even if not as powerful as the TI-92, the TI-86 allows more powerful treatment of these methods than what provided. The presentation given by the author follows the classical one presented in textbooks, namely, write down the equations, work the algebra to put them in matrix form and then use the calculator to solve this matrix equation. This procedure becomes cumbersome for large circuits; solving the matrix equation is the same for a 2x2 or a 20x20, as far as the calculator allows it. The big problem is to write down the equations and put them in matrix form, and this is where the calculator can be better applied. Programming of particular topologies such as bridged- T or delta-wye configurations is useful for people using these topologies very often. The author has missed however an opportunity to introduce students to the secrets of "circuit simulators", and to understand better what Spice does.

Chapter 7 deals with power, chapter 10 with transformers, mutual inductance and some passive filters structures; and chapter 11 works with circuits containing operational amplifiers as well as active filters. In all the chapters the use of the calculators is well illustrated through examples and programs for design and analyss of particular structures are given. The plots of frequency responses are well introduced for the examples.

Transient analysis of first order circuits is done in chapter 8 with emphasis in graphical results and the use of differential equations solver from the calculator. If you are interested in seeing how powerful can a calculator be for answering questions that students usually make about the usefullness and practical considerations regarding Fourier Series, chapter 9 provides a good introduction using the square wave in particular. Here again, the calculator can be further exploited.

Even if you find useful chapters 7 on PSpice and 12 on Mathcad, I cannot by wonder if they belong really to this book. I would better suggest them as appendices.

It seems that the book was intended as a textbook. However, I would not recommend it for a first try in learning circuits , although it constitutes a good companion for textbooks or else a reference book refreshing some concepts for those who had already been exposed to theory and prefer to concentrate on the tools.

Rating:
Summary: Very interesting but not awesome.
Review: I have nearly the same opinion about this book as you Mr. Palomera. I also think that although it's almost 400 pages, you can find (maybe) more infos on sites like ticalc. But these sites are really huges and it's not surprising that it bigger than this book. The book is smart and it gives you a lot of (very) usefull informations plus about the functions of the TI calculators. I recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Very interesting but not awesome.
Review: I have nearly the same opinion about this book as you Mr. Palomera. I also think that although it's almost 400 pages, you can find (maybe) more infos on sites like ticalc. But these sites are really huges and it's not surprising that it bigger than this book. The book is smart and it gives you a lot of (very) usefull informations plus about the functions of the TI calculators. I recommend it.