DC Circuits

Reviewed by Amr Metwally, Instructor, Oregon Institute of Technology on 4/19/20

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

This text book covers the basics of DC circuit analysis. It could be considered as a valuable reference book. However, I would not consider it as a text book as it lacks problems. The links provided in the book would make this book a true electronic book. The book has limited examples for an introductory course. Multisim examples are quite useful.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The text book provides accurate information to the best of my knowledge.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

DC circuit analysis is a traditional topic in all electrical engineering curricula around the world. The future updates to this book would be adding more examples, using other simulation software and adding problems. The arrangement would easily allow those updates.

Clarity rating: 4

The book is adequately clear. A chapter summary would be so helpful to the students. In module 3, adding a section on source free circuits will be a good introduction to this chapter.

Consistency rating: 5

The textbook is consistent in terms of topics or terminology, labeling, and format. The book is also consistent with major books in this field.

Modularity rating: 5

The text is professionally divided in modules. The sub-modules well serves the understanding of their modules.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The book is well organized. The sequence of the chapters is very logical. That well serves the understanding of the whole book.

Interface rating: 3

The links I used worked well. The hand written Appendix A1 does not look professional.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I could not notice any grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I could not see any cultural issues.

Comments

In general, the book is a valuable free reference book.

Reviewed by Resmi KrishnankuttyRema, Assistant Teaching Professor, Bowling Green State University on 12/12/19

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

This books provides both introductory and also in-depth information on the DC circuit fundamentals and associated components. It would have been really good if few more solved problems from each sections are included so the students using the book will get more practice problems. Including some practice questions at the end of the chapters (with or without answer key) is also something that would be useful.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I found the contents in the book accurate to the best of my knowledge.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

This book talks about the fundamentals of the DC circuits in detail. I found this book relevant to the engineering curriculum.

Clarity rating: 4

When you look at the book first, the contents seems to be really densely packed, which might discourage a student who is really new to the topic. But when you read through the book, you can see that everything is explained well and in detail.

Consistency rating: 5

I found the book consistent in terms of the terminologies, topics covered, representation style and format.

Modularity rating: 4

The style of presentation of the book might be a little bit intimidating for a student in the freshman level introductory course and that might affect the modularity to some level. But I believe that if a student is willing to go through the textbook and get familiar with the layout , then it should make further navigation easy for them.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

I think the book is organized well.

Interface rating: 5

The book is presented well as far as interfacing is concerned. There are plenty of circuit diagrams created using Multisim that can be easily recreated in hardware or software if needed or can be used for practicing problem solving. The hyperlinks in the text also helps with better navigation.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The text contains no grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The contents are purely technical. So it has no cultural relevance.

Comments

This looks like a good resource for the students to refer for DC circuits topics. The book being part of the Open Textbook Library helps the students to easily access the contents.

Reviewed by Jacob LeBlanc, Instructor, University of Louisiana at Lafayette on 11/10/19

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

Provides extensive information relating to DC circuits, but electromagnetism material is limited.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Author clearly demonstrates mastery of subject matter in simplifying series-parallel circuits. The preface gives the impression that the author has high credibility in the subject, having had much experience of explaining “a variety of DC circuit problems in a more efficient and simple manner than you normally find in circuits books (3).”

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Introductory information is clear and concise, not too intimidating for beginning electronics students. Having drawings provided from MultiSim allows readers with access to the software to be able to reconstruct the schematics and obtain the results themselves, to verify their calculations.

Clarity rating: 4

RC charging capacitor circuit could be more simplified.

Consistency rating: 4

It would be nice for subscripts to be used more consistently in the labeling of resistors, but it is not crucial to understanding the concepts.

Modularity rating: 5

The modular structure of the book is similar to how DC portions of electronics courses are normally taught—beginning with the simplest of electronic fundamentals, introducing Ohm’s Law and Power Law, then providing series circuit and parallel circuit examples to introduce Kirchhoff’s Voltage Law and Kirchhoff’s Current Law, respectively. All this being introduced in Module 1 allows for a solid background before moving into more advanced electronics problems such as those found in Modules 2 and 3.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

At the end of Modules 1 and 3 is a helpful equation list that can be referred to. Additionally, the digital bookmark links are very practical. However, the use of level headings and subsections could be better. For example, the Maximum Power Transfer Theorem should have its own section, but it is combined with Section 2.6 – Thevenin and Norton Equivalent Circuits.

Interface rating: 5

At first glance, Appendix A.2 is labeled as Solving RLC circuits, but it solves an RL circuit and an RC circuit; I didn’t see any with both capacitors and inductors. This may have been intentional (referring to RL and RC circuits as RLC, but I misinterpreted). Other than that, I did not notice any issues.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

Did not notice any problems.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

Did not notice any problems. Author caters to beginners, intermediates, and experts alike.

Comments

Overall, Davis' DC Circuits is a great resource for those unable to pay the hundreds of dollars for conventional textbooks. An accompanying lab manual would be a great addition for future works.

Reviewed by Deborah Lichniak, Asst. Prof., EET Program Chair, Thomas Nelson Community College on 3/25/19

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

Although thorough the book overall seems to lend itself to those having a strong background in math. Those in a technical program are a bit intimidated by the uses of matrices and long equations and will defer to their calculators, which is not presented here. I thought the material covered was the best I've seen in a while, but it did go rather quickly and there doesn't seem to be much in the way of problems students can fall back on to gauge varying degrees of comprehension. Also missing are applications where this information will be useful either now or later. Otherwise a good book to review the DC course materials in any basic electronics/electricity class. Just needs to go a bit slower. The use of MultiSim was very good as well. The most important missing bit of information I saw was that the author didn't use KVLs to complete the problems he wanted the student to find unknowns with. He relied on MultiSim and the use of a KVL or KCL appropriately would have been just as easy.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I found no errors in the book, nor any typos. It was nice to browse through a book that seems to be written by one individual instead of many.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

It will last a lifetime. Already has with few exceptions.

Clarity rating: 4

Was a bit too wordy and seemed overwhelming to browse with the associated on-line materials. Perhaps the actual book is better. Needed to be spaced out a bit more so student can write notes with corresponding materials in case they have the book.

Consistency rating: 5

Stepped through all points of contention very well, though some points more quickly than others.

Modularity rating: 4

As I stated earlier, the ability to just browse and stay with the material is a bit daunting with all the findings cramped into a small space for a contextual look through MultiSim's eyes.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

This follows the material exactly as I teach it.

Interface rating: 5

I don't believe there are any problems with the graphics or links, only that they needed a bit more room to view.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I didn't find any grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

There is no "person" involved in presenting this material to anyone. So, no cultural biases.

Comments

As I said, it's one of the best I've seen in a while. Just need more homework problems to really test the theoretical concepts and bring them to bear.

Reviewed by Mahbube Siddiki, Instructor, University of Missouri-Kansas City on 8/2/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

This text book covers succinct but resourceful topics related to DC circuit analysis for the students to learn in the first semester for a two-semester circuit analysis course covering DC and AC circuit analysis. Three modules of this textbook provide practical information spanning relevant theorems, steady and transient analysis of circuits with active and passive elements. Important external links for relevant topic is plus for the students interested to know more.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Topics covered in the book seems to be unbiased and error free.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Topics covered in the book are relevant to DC circuit analysis as the book tittle indicates. Examples used are typical and easy to understand for DC circuit analysis. As the circuit analysis theories doesn’t change much so the book will not require change of content in near future.

Clarity rating: 4

The book is well written, the concepts are clearly presented. Examples are worked out detail, thus easily understandable to the students

Consistency rating: 5

The textbook is consistent in terms of topics or terminology covered. Typical step by step method to introduce DC circuit to the students was followed.

Modularity rating: 5

The book is well written in a modular fashion. Topics are divided into modules and submodules.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The book is well organized, contents are presented in a logical and sequential order.

Interface rating: 5

No interface issue was found.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No grammatical error was noticed.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

No culturally insensitive or offensive material was found throughout the text.

Comments

Very useful textbook for an introductory circuit analysis course. Addition of more examples and problems will give students more opportunity to challenge their learning skill. Examples of some simple math operation using MATLAB can be added in appendix as well.

Reviewed by Sangho Bok, Assistant Professor, Southern Utah University on 6/19/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The book covers the traditional topics of DC circuit analysis with the basic circuit elements such as resistors, capacitors, and inductors. Three modules are well-divided well with enough details in each module. It provides many examples with step-by-step solutions. Hyperlinks for external resource are included so that the interested readers can have an access to more information. This book seems good for the first semester DC circuit followed by AC circuit analysis. It is not sufficient for one semester DC/AC circuit analysis setting, though.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The material for DC circuit analysis looks accurate and unbiased.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The content is relevant to DC circuit analysis. Examples are easy to follow for student to understand the analysis.

Clarity rating: 4

The text is clear to understand. Problem sets at the end of each module would be useful for students to practice.

Consistency rating: 5

The terminology of the book is consistent. The framework looks natural and is similar to most books in the field.

Modularity rating: 5

The modules of the book look well-organized and the sub-modules are divided properly.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The topics in DC circuit analysis are introduced in a proper order. It would be helpful to add a section in Appendix to introduce a basic concept of Multisim because the textbook uses Multisim for the circuit diagrams throughout the book.

Interface rating: 4

The book does not have a significant interface issue. Some of the texts in the figures looks smaller, though.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No grammatical error has been noticed.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

There is no culturally insensitive or offensive content.

Comments

The book looks good as a textbook or a reference for DC circuit analysis. Utilizing the links throughout the book can be very useful for the readers to enhance their understanding.

Reviewed by Edwin Hou, Professor, New Jersey Institute of Technology on 5/21/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This textbook covers the principles of DC circuit analysis with resistors, capacitors, and inductors, and the problem-solving procedures in circuit analysis. It contains traditional topics in electric circuit analysis and matrix methods for solving systems of algebraic equations. The textbook is divided into three modules and it provide practical information for an introductory course in circuit analysis. The textbook contains external links for many keywords/topics so that the readers can obtain additional information if they wish to explore further.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The content of the book appears to be error-free and unbiased.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The contents of the book will not be obsolete in the near future. The examples used are typical problems encountered in DC circuit analysis.

Clarity rating: 5

The textbook is clearly written. Examples are worked out in details.

Consistency rating: 5

The terminology used throughout the textbook is consistent.

Modularity rating: 5

Within each module, the topics are further divided into sections and is well organized.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The topics in circuit analysis are presented in a logical and clear fashion.

Interface rating: 5

There were no interface issue with the textbook. The images/charts appear to be of correct proportion and the links I have clicked on all worked.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

For the sections I examined in detail, there were no grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I did not see any culturally insensitive or offensive material in the textbook.

Comments

This book is useful as a textbook or as a reference in DC circuit analysis.

Reviewed by Huimin Chen, associate professor, University of New Orleans on 3/27/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The book covers DC circuit analysis for resistive circuits and transient analysis for circuits with inductor and capacitors. It is good resource for the students to learn circuits analysis in the first semester for a two-semester circuits analysis sequence.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The book used Multisim software to draw the circuit schematic and conduct the simulation so that students can confirm their calculations using nodal or mesh analysis and be familiar with the circuit design and synthesis. The coverage of circuit theory seems fair and balanced.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The basic circuit theory does not change much. The book is relatively easy for students to read and practice with the practice examples.

Clarity rating: 4

The book is clearly written. It would be nice to have a summary for each chapter indicating the important concept and circuit analysis skills that students have to master. The Thevenin's equivalent circuit model deserves more coverage in showing the circuit modeling and synthesis skills useful for studying microelectronic circuits.

Consistency rating: 4

The book follows a natural sequence to introduce DC circuit analysis and then the first and second order transient circuits. What might be helpful is the coverage of operational amplifier circuits (e.g., inverting and non-inverting amplifier, addition, integration, differentiation).

Modularity rating: 5

The book has good modular sections covering the key skill set for DC circuit analysis.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The book is well organized.

Interface rating: 4

The book contains references and online resources to further the knowledge of DC circuits and analysis skills. The coverage is balanced and easy to follow.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I do not see any grammatical error.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I do not see any cultural issue.

Comments

The book is useful for engineering students to study DC circuits with Multisim software and the subsequence AC circuits seems a natural way to complete the study on linear circuit theory.