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Preface
Circuit design, an essential part of electrical engineering, has become an
exciting field because of the availability of responsive. personal computers.
Productive interaction with the designer's own computer has been possible for
several years, but only recently has it become completely respectable through
the introduction of a highly touted personal computer by the largest manufacturer
of big computers. Modern circuit design usually involves extensive
mathematical calculations based on increasingly theoretical concepts to satisfy
escalating performance requirements. I wrote this book to show how effective
personal computers can be in circuit design.
The first goal is to describe practical radio frequency circuit design techniques
that are especially appropriate for personal computers and have one or
more fundamental concepts or applications. For example, the polynomial
root-finder algorithm can solve as many as 20 complex roots and is based on
the important Cauchy-Riemann conditions. It works well, and the underlying
principles are worth studying. The second goal is to exploit the interaction
between circuit designer and computer to clarify both design techniques and
fundamental concepts. It is possible to produce valuable answers rapidly while
developing a feel for the procedure and obtaining insight into fundamental
processes, such as errors between exact derivatives and their finite-difference
estimates.
The most frequently encountered design procedures are appropriate for
personal computers, even though there are a few heavily used procedures that
must be performed on large computers. This book is based on the premise that
most designers are better served by computer programs that they can call their
own. Only a few must master large-computer operating procedures and
program manuals several inches thick; these procedures are beyond the scope
of this book. Rather, I have selected some of the most productive and
interesting circuit design techniques, some very old and others quite recent.
Many students have recently developed an appreciation and interest in these
topics precisely because the techniques have become visible on the personal
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