Introduction to Electric Circuits [Hardcover]

Richard C. Dorf (Author), James A. Svoboda (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 20, 2003 | ISBN-10: 0471447951 | ISBN-13: 978-0471447955 | Edition: 6

Praised for its highly accessible, real-world approach, the Sixth Edition demonstrates how the analysis and design of electric circuits are inseparably intertwined with the ability of the engineer to design complex electronic, communication, computer, and control systems as well as consumer products. The book offers numerous design problems and MATLAB examples, and focuses on the circuits that we encounter everyday.

New integration of interactive examples and problem solving, which helps readers understand circuit analysis concepts in an interactive way

New problems in every chapter and new examples

A CD-ROM offers exercises, interactive illustrations, and a circuit design lab that allows users to experiment with different circuits

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

A remarkably accessible approach … Numerous design problem types … MATLAB examples … A real-world emphasis on the circuits that we encounter everyday … These are just a few reasons why Dorf and Svoboda’s INTRODUCTION TO ELECTRIC CIRCUITS has been so successful at helping students master electric circuits and build strong problem-solving skills. Here’s one more—Electric Circuit Study Applets!

The Electric Circuit Study Applets feature hundreds of Web-based problems organized into numerous problem sets. These Applets are available FREE at www.wiley.com/college/dorf with the registration code included in the front of this text. It’s like getting a free, online study guide! Numerous call-outs throughout the text direct you to Applets that apply to the topic being studied.

With these Applets you can:

• Practice on countless problems: A random number generator changes the values of resistances, capacitances, and other circuit parameters, so you can challenge yourself with a seemingly endless array of problems.
• Get immediate feedback: As you work through the problems, t he Applets instantly check your answers.
• Examine detailed Worked Examples: Simply press the Worked Examples button and the program shows you how to solve similar problems step-by-step. The entire set of Worked Examples is also available for download as a .pdf file for your convenience.
• Assess your understanding of key concepts: Each set of problems covers a particular set of circuit analysis topics, allowing you to track your progress.
• Make calculations while online: Simply click on the button for the pop-up calculator.

Together the Applets and Worked Examples are the next step in providing an integrated, self-paced learning environment. They take circuit analysis study into a modern framework.

About the Author

Richard C. Dorf, professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of California, Davis, teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in electrical engineering in the fields of circuits and control systems. He earned a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, an M.S. from the University of Colorado, and a B.S. from Clarkson University. Highly concerned with the discipline of electrical engineering and its wide value to social and economic needs, he has written and lectured internationally on the contributions and advances in electrical engineering.

James A. Svoboda is an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Clarkson University, where he teaches courses on topics such as circuits, electronics, and computer programming. He earned a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, an M.S. from the University of Colorado, and a B.S. from General Motors Institute.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 832 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 6 edition (June 20, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471447951
• ISBN-13: 978-0471447955
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 8.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #982,438 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Electric Circuits, 6th Edition, Dorf and Svoboda, December 12, 2005

By 

Apostle "Mike" (Charlottesville, Virginia USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Introduction to Electric Circuits (Hardcover)

"Electric Circuits," 6th Edition by Dorf and Svoboda rates as the WORST text I've ever used in my undergraduate or graduate training. While it has many helpful tables and illustrations, the core-material presentation is garbled and not easily understood. This is complicated further by an inexcusable plethora of errors contained throughout the text. Though the authors are obviously knowledgeable in the subject matter, from me they earn a grade of "F" for their ability as writers. When used as an adjunct or self-learning text, where the student's knowledge comes directly from the textbook and without the aid of live lectures, this book is useless.

The following three textbooks cover the SAME material as Dorf and are much better suited as adjunct and self-learning texts. These are presented in the order of recommendation to you: (Monier is by far the best of all)

1. "Electric Circuit Analysis," by Charles J. Monier, 2001, Prentice Hall.

This text is EXCELLENT. As the chapter material and the math progress in complexity (up to LaPlace Transforms) the author inserts "math review chapters," which are especially helpful. The material is presented clearly and in an exact fashion in this book.

2. "Electric Circuits," by Alenander and Sadiku

3. "Introductory Circuit Analysis," by Robert L. Boylestad

Unless you're taking a lecture course directly from the authors or have access to a professor familiar with all the errors and quirks of this text, don't waste your time with it.

Disclaimer: I have no financial or business relationship or interests in any of the texts discussed here.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not bad, could use some proofreading, February 12, 2004

By 

Afonso Arantes (Florianopolis, Brazil) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Introduction to Electric Circuits (Hardcover)

It's a mixed book. The exposition is fairly clear with plenty of worked examples and additional problems with answers. This is particularly good for people teaching themselves the material who need lots of practice and can't go to their TA's for help.

The book does use some calculus, but not an unreasonable amount. Some material is easier to understand given the proper mathematical tools and I believe that most of the author's use of calculus in the text is appropriate. There are a couple of exercises that require integration by parts, which I do not consider reasonable. There are also a couple of exercises that result in large, ugly polynomials to be simplified. Perhaps there are ways to avoid these given a cleverer approach than mine. Overall the math isn't excessive, the explanations are clear and there are only a few "What the %*@&!#! are you talking about?!?" moments.

The authors do appear to have been somewhat sloppy about proofreading their text and there are errors not in the official errata sheet. Some are small, like the inductor that mistakenly got assigned a resistor symbol. Some are more serious, like the inductor value that was off by a factor of 10 in one of the excercises. And of course there is the statement on page 8 of the sixth edition that says that the Internet was established in 1995. I guess that this must have been what Al Gore was talking about.

Oh and beware the "Electric Circuit Study Applets." I did finally get them to work, although the process was quite painful. There is no CD included with the book. The reader is required to go to the website, type in a access key, register and so on. The applets are very large java files that take a long time to download. My browser kept dying halfway through the process and it took many tries before the entire process worked. I still haven't managed to get the worked examples pdf file to load properly.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not a useful introduction, August 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Introduction to Electric Circuits (Hardcover)

This text book was not easy to read or understand. It is NOT a textbook for an introduction to circuit theory. The example problems were simple but the exercises and problems did not ease a student into the understanding of electric circuits. The book tried to give a failed introduction into filters and signals.

It can not be used as a reference book, you can never find what you are looking for.