University of Southern California
School of Engineering
Department of Electrical EngineeringEngineering-Electrophysics
EE 202L: Course Syllabus
Spring 2001
Kuehl
Abstract
An electrical circuit can be thought of as a network or a connected array of two and three
terminal elements. These elements include such items as resistors, capacitors, inductors,
diodes and transistors. The operating characteristics of these elements as well as their
interconnection network determine the functionality of an electric circuit. For example,
similar elements may be used for different circuit functions within one complex system
such as stereo receiver.
Despite the diversity possible in electrical circuits, they are governed by a unique set of
physical laws. Therefore, circuit analysis is a technological science that exploits these
physical laws, which include Kirchhoff's current and voltage laws. Mathematical tools
such as calculus and differential equations are critical in the analysis of electrical circuits.
Circuit design is a complex process that relies on insightful interpretations of circuit
analysis.
EE 202 is a foundation course that takes advantage of the physical laws common to all
electrical circuits. It focuses on the development of systematic mathematical techniques
for the analysis of electrical circuits. The course is built on a hierarchy of knowledge that
enables the student to understand and analyze current, voltage, power and energy
relationships in linear circuits. While EE 202 is not a first course in transistor electronics
it nevertheless establishes a foundation for the understanding that is required in the design
of all electronic circuits.
Course Administration
The prerequisite for EE 202 is Physics 152L; Math 245 is a co-requisite. Course lectures
are given on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:00 to 3:20 in Grace Ford Salvatori Hall
(GFS), room 116. Lectures commence on Tuesday, January 9, and end on Thursday,
April 26. Students who are absent from a given lecture should arrange to obtain from a
friend any notes, or other information that may have been distributed during their
absence. The instructor rarely retains extra copies of the disseminated material.
The last day to drop the class without a W grade is January 26. The last day to drop the
class with a W grade is April 6. An incomplete (IN) course grade is rarely given. An IN
grade may be justified only in exceptional cases such as student illness or a personally
tragic circumstance occurring after the twelfth week of the semester.
The final examination will be on Friday, May 4 from 2:00-4:00 PM. Two midterm
exams will be given on the dates shown in the course schedule. The results of 3
examinations together with the homework and laboratory grades will be combined in
accordance with the table below to determine the final course average for each student.
EE 202 Grading
First Midterm
Second Midterm
Homework
Laboratory Grade
Final Exam
20%
20%
15%
20%
25%
No examination can ever be made up. If you are absent during an examination, you
will receive a grade of zero unless you have a valid reason for your absence, and you
have discussed it with Prof. Kuehl prior to the exam. If you miss a midterm and have
a valid excuse and have discussed it with Prof. Kuehl prior to the exam, then the
weighted final exam score will replace the missing score. If you cheat during an exam,
you will receive a grade of F in the course and will be reported to the Office of Student
Conduct for further disciplinary action. An automatic failure results if the student has a
non-excused absence from both midterm examinations and/or absence from the final
examination. An automatic failure also results if any one of the laboratory assignments is
not completed.
Professor Hans H. Kuehl is the course instructor. His office hours are Tuesday and
Thursday from 3:30 to 5:00 PM, and Wednesday from 10:00 to 11:50 AM, and by
appointment. He can be reached in PHE 622, where the phone number is (213) 7404691, or by his e-mail address kuehl@usc.edu.
Mallard
This semester we are again using an asynchronous learning tool called Mallard. This is a
software system developed at the University of Illinois whereby students have access to
homework problems via a standard Internet browser. This semester most of the
homework will be done via the Mallard software using a university-based computer or
your own computer anywhere you have access to the Internet. You will access the
problems from the EE 202 Linear Circuits Mallard website and you will submit the
answers directly to Mallard via the Internet. The problems will be graded immediately,
24 hours/day, 7days/week so you will know right away, when the work is freshest in
your mind, whether you have done them correctly. If your solution is incorrect, you
can try the problem again and resubmit the answers. To help you find any errors in
your calculation, we have structured the more involved Mallard problems to contain a
series of steps requiring intermediate answers. This allows you to more easily pinpoint
where the error lies if your final solution is incorrect. You will be allowed 10 tries on
each homework problem without penalty. These features should encourage you to master
more easily the concepts involved in solving the problem. One of the primary reasons for
using Mallard is that you can, at any time, access the homework problems, submit your
answers, and get immediate grading and feedback. You don't have to wait a week or two
for your graded homework to see if you understand the methods and principles involved.
Moreover, you can view your own grades via Mallard and see how your performance
compares to the class averages on homework and exams. In order to become familiar
with Mallard, look at the Introduction to Mallard section on the Mallard lessons page.
The URL for the EE 202L Mallard Website is https://learn2.usc.edu/EE202L_34013_011/
The Mallard homework assignments are due on the dates shown on the Mallard lessons
page. Cheating on the homework is not allowed. Cheating on Mallard-based homework
usually involves allowing another current or former EE 202 student to work out and
submit answers under your password. DO YOUR OWN WORK. Unless told otherwise,
it is not cheating to have a verbal discussion of a general nature with an instructor, TA or
other student about the approach taken to solve a homework problem. However, you
should not allow another person to submit answers to the homework under your
password.
The Mallard grading policies for this course and some recommendations for using
Mallard are as follows:
1. If you submit an answer to a homework problem that is marked incorrect by Mallard
and you want to rework the problem and submit another answer, you should use the
"back" browser button to get back to the same version of the homework problem and then
resubmit answers to that problem. If you don’t use the “back” button (e.g., you access the
same problem via the Lessons Page icon), you will obtain a different version of the
problem, which has different parameters and sometimes a different circuit.
2. Although the Mallard method of submitting homework solutions does not require
pencil and paper, the recommended way to work a Mallard homework problem is still to
solve the problem using pencil and paper and then submit your answer to Mallard for
grading. If your answer is marked incorrect by Mallard look over the calculation you did
on paper to locate the error; then rework the problem using the corrected method and
submit the revised answer (after using the “back” button as described above in item 1).
You should save the paper on which you did the calculation for future reference; for
example, when you are studying for an exam.
3. You may submit answers to homework questions up to 10 times before the due date
without penalty.
4. You may submit answers to homework questions an additional 9 times (beyond the 10
times mentioned above) before the due date; however, each additional submission will be
assessed a 10% penalty, i.e., the maximum possible score on your 11th submission will
be 90%, the maximum possible score on your 12th submission will be 80%, etc.
5. You may submit answers to homework questions after the due date; however, for each
day late, a 20% penalty will be assessed, i.e., if you submit answers to homework 1 day
after the due date, the maximum possible score will be 80%, if you submit answers to
homework 2 days after the due date, the maximum possible score will be 60%, etc.
6. Mallard will preserve the highest score that you achieve (Therefore, you may rework
problems for additional practice at any time throughout the semester without any negative
impact on your homework scores.).
7.If you have a lot of difficulty with a Mallard homework problem, bring it up with
the TA in your discussion section or see Prof. Kuehl or e-mail them, describing the
difficulty. They will be happy to help you.
Discussion Sections
Five discussion sections are offered as follows.
9 AM
11 AM
12 Noon
1 PM
5 PM
Monday
Friday
Wednesday
Thursday
Wednesday
VHE 214
VKC 209
VKC 107
VKC 153
KAP 150
Homework and laboratory assignments are addressed in the discussion sections. John
McGeehan, whose e-mail address is drago@primenet.com, will lead the discussions. He
welcomes your questions regarding any difficulties you may be having with Mallard.
Questions in regard to particularly challenging lecture material are also addressed in the
discussion sections. Each student is responsible for signing up for one discussion section.
In addition to the discussion sections, John will also hold regular office hours to assist
Professor Kuehl.
Laboratory Sections
Each student is required to purchase a proto board by the first laboratory meeting. Proto
boards can be purchased in the Bookstore in the Art Supplies area.
Laboratory assignments and instructions for laboratory preparations will be distributed in
a timely fashion throughout the semester. Laboratory preparation material must be
studied prior to an attempt to perform the pertinent lab assignment. When the laboratory
preparation includes a prelab, it must be handed in before the laboratory experiment can
be done. There will likely be a short quiz at the beginning of each laboratory session to
test student comprehension of relevant preparatory material.
A tentative schedule of laboratory assignments appears below. You will be notified in
class and by e-mail of any changes. As they become ready, the laboratory handouts can
be accessed at:
http://www-scf.usc.edu/~rmakarem/ee202s01/ee202.html
A prerequisite to passing EE 202 is that all laboratory assignments must be
completed.
Week of Experiment #
Jan. 8
Subject
No Labs
Jan. 15
1
Jan. 22
2
Jan. 29
3
Feb. 5
4
Additional Circuit Concepts, Nodal Analysis &
PSpice
Thevenin And Norton Equivalent Circuits &
PSpice
Makeup Week
Feb. 19
5
Operational Amplifiers
Feb. 26
6
First-Order Circuits
Mar. 5
7
Active RC Circuits
Feb. 12
Mar. 12
Laboratory Rules And Procedures
Laboratory Report Format
Laboratory Instruments
Basic Laboratory Safety and Circuit Concepts
Basic Circuit Concepts
No Labs; Spring Break
Mar. 19
8
Second-Order Circuits
Mar. 26
9
Sinusoidal Steady State Analysis (Phasors)
Apr. 2
10
Makeup Week
Apr. 9
Final Project
Apr. 16
Final Project
Apr. 23
Final Project(Report due Apr. 27)
Required and Reference Readings
The required text is: Roland E. Thomas and Albert J. Rosa, The Analysis and
Design of Linear Circuits, Third Edition, New York, John Wiley & Sons, 2001.
Other related texts:
C. K. Alexander and M. N. O. Sadiku, Fundamentals of Electric Circuits McGraw Hill,
2000
A. B Carlson, Circuits Brooks/Cole, 2000
J.D. Irwin and C-H Wu, Basic Engineering Circuit Analysis. Prentice-Hall, 1999.
A. M. Davis, Linear Circuit Analysis. PWS Publishing Co., 1998.
D. R. Cunningham and J. A. Stuller, Circuit Analysis. Houghton Mifflin Co., 1995.
R. A. DeCarlo and P-M. Lin, Linear Circuit Analysis. Prentice-Hall, 1995.
R. C. Dorf and J. A. Svoboda, Introduction to Electric Circuits. Wiley, 1996.
D. E. Johnson, J. R. Johnson, J. L. Hilburn, and P. D. Scott, Electric Circuit Analysis.
Prentice-Hall, 1997.
L.S. Bobrow, Elementary Linear Circuit Analysis. New York: Holt, Rinehart and
Winston, 1981.
A. Budak, Circuit Theory Fundamentals and Applications. Englewood Cliffs, New
Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1987.
M.D. Cilletti, Introduction to Circuit Analysis and Design. New York: Holt, Rinehart and
Winston, 1988.
J.R. Cogdell, An Introduction to Circuits and Electronics. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey:
Prentice Hall, 1986.
V. Del Toro, Engineering Circuits. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1987.
W.H. Hayt Jr. and J.E. Kemmerly, Engineering Circuit Analysis. New York: McGrawHill Book Company, 1986.
M.E. Van Valkenburg and B.K. Kinariwala, Linear Circuits. Englewood Cliffs, New
Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1982.
L.P. Huelsman, Basic Circuit Theory. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall,
1984.