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Fundamentals of Electric Circuits cover

Engineering

Engineering

Fundamentals of Electric Circuits

Charles K. Alexander; Matthew N. O. Sadiku

A comprehensive introduction to electric circuit analysis with emphasis on problem-solving techniques, practical applications, and modern circuit analysis methods using both classical and computer-aided approaches.

Difficulty Level
Intermediate
Academic Level
Undergraduate
Electric CircuitsCircuit AnalysisAC AnalysisDC AnalysisNetwork TheoremsOperational AmplifiersFrequency ResponseLaplace Transform

01 / Reading Guide

Reading Guide

Citation

Alexander, C. K., & Sadiku, M. N. O. (2021). Fundamentals of Electric Circuits (7th ed., international student edition). McGraw-Hill.

Chapter Summary

The seventh edition has nineteen chapters in three parts: DC circuits (Chapters 1–8), AC circuits (Chapters 9–14) and advanced circuit analysis (Chapters 15–19). McGraw-Hill's description says the book aims to present circuit analysis more clearly and in a more interesting and easier-to-understand way than more traditional texts, with a balance of theory, worked and extended examples, practice problems and real-world applications. It adds that over 580 homework problems are new or changed in this edition and that the "Design a Problem" feature, in which the student writes the question as well as the solution, appears in more than a hundred exercises.

Part One, DC Circuits: Chapters 1–4

Chapter 1, Basic Concepts, and Chapter 2, Basic Laws, set up the quantities and laws of circuit analysis. Chapter 3, Methods of Analysis, and Chapter 4, Circuit Theorems, turn those laws into systematic methods and the standard theorems for simplifying networks.

Part One, DC Circuits: Chapters 5–8

Chapter 5, Operational Amplifiers, introduces the op amp as a circuit element. Chapter 6, Capacitors and Inductors, adds the two energy-storage elements, and Chapters 7 and 8, First-Order Circuits and Second-Order Circuits, apply them to circuits with one and two storage elements, which is the point where circuit equations become differential equations.

Part Two, AC Circuits: Chapters 9–11

Chapter 9, Sinusoids and Phasors, introduces the representation used for steady-state AC. Chapter 10, Sinusoidal Steady-State Analysis, applies it to analysis, and Chapter 11, AC Power Analysis, addresses power in AC circuits.

Part Two, AC Circuits: Chapters 12–14

Chapter 12, Three-Phase Circuits; Chapter 13, Magnetically Coupled Circuits; and Chapter 14, Frequency Response, extend the sinusoidal methods to polyphase systems, coupled inductors and transfer behaviour as frequency changes.

Part Three, Advanced Circuit Analysis: Chapters 15–19

Chapter 15, Introduction to the Laplace Transform, and Chapter 16, Applications of the Laplace Transform, bring in a transform-domain method for circuits. Chapter 17, The Fourier Series, and Chapter 18, Fourier Transform, treat periodic and general signals in the frequency domain. Chapter 19, Two-Port Networks, closes the book.

Key Concepts

Part One: DC circuits (Chapters 1–8)

  • Basic laws and methods of analysis: the laws of Chapter 2 and the systematic methods of Chapter 3.
  • Circuit theorems: the simplification theorems of Chapter 4.
  • Operational amplifiers: the active device of Chapter 5.
  • Capacitors, inductors, first- and second-order circuits: storage elements and the transient behaviour they produce.

Part Two: AC circuits (Chapters 9–14)

  • Phasors: the representation for sinusoids.
  • AC power: power analysis for sinusoidal circuits.
  • Three-phase circuits and magnetic coupling: the multi-source and coupled-inductor cases.
  • Frequency response: how circuit behaviour depends on frequency.

Part Three: advanced analysis (Chapters 15–19)

  • Laplace transform: introduction and applications.
  • Fourier series and transform: frequency-domain descriptions of signals.
  • Two-port networks: the closing topic.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

  • Full coverage in a clear three-part plan. The nineteen chapters divide cleanly into DC, AC and advanced analysis, so a reader can see how far a given course will go and where the mathematics changes (differential equations in Part One, phasors in Part Two, transforms in Part Three).
  • Practice-heavy design. McGraw-Hill describes a balance of theory, worked and extended examples, practice problems and applications, over 580 new or changed problems, and more than a hundred "Design a Problem" exercises that ask students to write a problem as well as solve it.
  • An active device early on. Operational amplifiers appear in Chapter 5, before capacitors, inductors and transient analysis, so a course can include a first amplifier circuit within the DC material.
  • Digital support. McGraw-Hill sells the book with Connect, an online platform with an eBook, homework and adaptive assignments, and a print version in colour.

Limitations

  • Length of the sequence. Nineteen chapters are likely to be more than a single term covers; Parts Two and Three are natural places to stop or continue in a later course.
  • Circuit theory only. The chapter list contains no chapter on semiconductor devices, transistor amplifiers or digital circuits, so readers need other books for electronics proper.

Where It Fits in the Course

Alexander and Sadiku is the circuit analysis text of the circuits and electronics list, covering DC, AC and transform methods in one volume. Storey's Electronics: A Systems Approach and Scherz and Monk's Practical Electronics for Inventors are gentler and more applied starting points that assume little mathematics, and either can precede this book. Agarwal and Lang's Foundations of Analog and Digital Electronic Circuits covers circuit analysis together with digital abstraction, MOS devices and amplifiers, so it overlaps with the circuit-analysis material while moving into electronics; Howe and Sodini's Microelectronics: An Integrated Approach is the follow-on for semiconductor devices and circuits.

Hayt and Buck's Engineering Electromagnetics is a separate field-theory strand, and Patterson and Hennessy's Computer Organization and Design is the book for how processors are built, a destination for the digital side of the list rather than a continuation of circuit analysis.

How to Use This Book

The book is for students of electrical engineering and related fields taking circuit analysis. The chapter plan implies algebra and calculus from the start, differential equations by Chapters 7 and 8, and complex numbers for the phasors of Chapter 9.

A practical plan:

  • First term: Part One in order, Chapters 1–8. Chapters 1–4 are the foundation for everything that follows; do not move on until the analysis methods and the main theorems are routine.
  • Second term: Part Two, Chapters 9–14, starting with phasors in Chapter 9 and AC power in Chapter 11. Chapters 12 and 13 can be treated as applications for programmes where power systems or magnetic coupling matter.
  • Advanced: Chapters 15–19 in a later course or for self-study, with the Laplace chapters (15–16) before Fourier work.
  • Practice: work the practice problems the book provides alongside its worked examples, and try some of the "Design a Problem" exercises to test whether you can build a problem as well as solve one.