Solutions to 'The Art of Electronics' exercises (2023 Update)

Sure. Read the book carefully. Once you have understood what it's telling y ou, it's easy to work out the solutions to the exercises. If you are silly enough to look for another approach, you may take a while to develop the ne cessary competence - the book was aimed at Harvard undergraduates, and also works for Cambridge UK undergraduates, who form a similarly select group.

Doing good so far.

Daniel: if you work through a problem and it makes sense to you, then there's a really good chance you've done it right. If you work through a problem and you just can't figure out if it's right or not, then feel free to post questions here.

Don't sneer at an applicable Shaum's Outline or two, either -- they contain lots of worked problems which you can use if you get stuck.

I've never seen anyone here volunteer to do anyone's homework, and it's fairly common for one of us to turn down an opportunity with quite intentionally pointed rudeness. However, there's quite a few people (myself included) who are quite happy to HELP you with your homework, in a way that won't give you the solution on a platter, but will perhaps point you in the direction you need to go.

Just describe the problem (for AoE you may even be able to just cite edition, chapter, and problem number), and where you're stuck. If where you're stuck is that you don't have a clue of how to start -- say so.

And, since having money, family connections, and the ability to score highly on the English composition portion of your SAT tests doesn't mean squat for your ability to figure out electronic circuits, the OP should do OK.

Now, if it were aimed at WPI or OSU (either one) undergrads, you should quake in your boots.

And however much us ordinary mortals are supposed to bow and scrape when we hear the names "Haaahvahd" and "Cambridge", it's still a book for the Volts for Dolts class.

:)

I'm having trouble with this one:

and yes, I've tried working it out by myself. The problem is that it uses olfactory encoding and I don't have the proper equipment. I can tell R from C, but all the different R values just smell the same to me.

ChesterW

The university entrance systems in the US and the UK aren't perfect, but Ca mbridge undergraduates tend to be pretty bright. Intelligence does seem to be significantly heritable, and if your parents were clever they are likely to have more money than most - it worked that way for me.

The fact that the undergraduates that get into Cambridge and Harvard are mo re likely to come from families who have money and corrections doesn't mean that the system is broken. In reality rather too many of them do, and the system is clearly bent, but it's also true that it's easier to teach from a demanding text-book like AoE at Cambridge and Harvard than it would be at institutions lower down the university pecking order.

Never heard of either of them.

It will make the instructor work hard than one of the Schaum texts, but it does cover more stuff, and seems to go deeper.

I'll do so, thanks!

It's not so easy as it looks like in the first glimpse. I use the book to swing me up to my knowledge, that I get right now in a 2 and half year electronics-course (~620hours). The course is helping me to understand the book, but the book is helping me to understand the course (especially the theachers). A feed-back I won't miss!

Good luck!

Oh, thanks! What a great honour being welcomed by Tim Wescott.

There are many other sci.electronics groups I can ask my questions. In that case, I have found an info on the web, telling me I can find the authors of the book in s.e.d.... Design.... well, I don't think I will spend too much time into it. My aim is repair, service, deeper knowledge (knowing what the curcuit isn't doing anymore, without knowing how to design it). ..... working for alternative energy (wind and passive solar) is a kind of destination to me but not a must.

Ok.

Well, but you can see sheets in the book....

There are a lot of knowledgeable people here. Trying to get the benefit of some of that knowledge can be a bit tough. Same thing in comp.dsp. You have to ring the bell just right to get a useful reply. Just be glad they didn't heap a load of crap on you... or should that be load a heap of crap on you.... your choice.

I feel your pain. 40 years ago I would just crack nearly any book and in a relatively short time I would have absorbed it. I'm not so quick with new things anymore. Sometimes I ask for help and get it. Joerg helped me a lot learning how to design a low power amplifier recently. I learned a lot from that. I expect you will get a better result if you give a specific problem and ask a specific question about it. Even better if you post what you think you know about solving it. Heck, maybe I'll even be able to help. :)

Win Hill used to post here a lot, but he's been busy finishing the third ed ition of AoE for the past couple of years. My impression is that it's now w ith the publisher, but they keep the authors busy with proof-reading and si milar chores for quite a while before they condescend to print anything - l et alone sell it.

Well, s.e.d. isn't for any electronics technician/engineer... IMHO. Let's see.

Joerg is a nice guy.

Probably you know more in electronics than I do, yet ;-)

you, it's easy to work out the solutions to the exercises. If you are sill y enough to look for another approach, you may take a while to develop the necessary competence - the book was aimed at Harvard undergraduates, and al so works for Cambridge UK undergraduates, who form a similarly select group .

Are there any exercises in that book? There is the good idea/bad idea exerc ise section, novel but nothing that can't be solved by inspection. It's not what could be called cerebral.

You're right, except it's Circuit ideas, and Bad circuits. Funny, I always remembered it as Good Circuits and Bad Circuits. The bad circuits are a bit puzzling, judging from emails I get.

We *did not* write AoE primarily as a textbook, hence there aren't very many exercises. They're scattered here and there, plus more at the end of some chapters. And most are quite simple, really just prod to the reader to action. I find it's not easy dreaming up good exercises. A further excuse is that simply writing and finishing the book used up all our energy. I'm sorry to report that we failed to solve that problem in writing the 3rd edition.

Hi, Win,

Welcome back! Does that mean that writing the 3rd edition is now officially in the past tense?

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

Rohde's Communication Receivers has really great exercises because they wer e exactly the kinds of calculations one would use in practice to evaluate p erformance of prospective systems or to compare performance of several cand idate systems. He also throws a lot of stuff out there for the reader to de rive for him-/her-self, no further follow up, and doesn't clutter up his te xt with millions of numbered formulas, he treats the reader like an adult, either they get it or they don't. Haven't seen anything like his work befor e or since. Dunno know about his other books, only worked through this one:

Yes, our deadline was Friday noontime, but we got to keep futzing with it until yesterday afternoon. Our editor, who's in England, had to cut everything off, and after some finishing touches on the index this morning, he sent it off to New York for the printed galley version. After our checkout it'll be printed (in the U.S.!) and ready for shipping.

So now I finally get my life back. Hi, guys!

Congratulations. My wife finished her book a couple of years ago, but didn't get her life back - all the stuff that she'd deferred because she was finishing the book emerged from the wood-work, and she's still not worked through it.

I hope you have better luck.

Dang, now I'll have to start giving my interns the Third Edition, which I'll have to pay full price for.

Well, it only took 25 years. Such a chef d'oeuvre cannot be rushed, after all.

Congratulations and thanks to you and Paul, for myself and the whole community. Having had 20% of that experience myself, I suspect you're stumbling into walls at this point. ;)

Cheers

Phil Hobbs