EECE 260 Electrical Circuits
Spring 2007 Syllabus
Contact Information
Professor: Prof. Fowler
Phone: 777-6973
Office: Q14, 3rd floor of Engineering Building in ECE Area
E-Mail: mfowler@binghamton.edu
Course Web Site: See the “EECE260” link at http://www.ws.binghamton.edu/fowler/
Also See: "Blackboard" http://blackboard.cc.binghamton.edu/
Check these sites often since this website will be used to:
− convey any important announcements about the course
− distribute course materials used during lectures (please download and bring to class)
− post HW assignments and (later, of course) their solutions
Prof. Fowler’s Office Hours:
M & W 2:20 – 4:20
TAs & Their Office Hours: Check the Course Web Sites
Prerequisites
PHYS 132: Physics II (covering electricity and magnetism)
MATH 371: Differential Equations
Required Reading Materials
•
Text Book
also see “WileyPlus” below…
also see “Buying the Book” in “Course Info” section on Blackboard:
Basic Engineering Circuit Analysis, 8th Edition
J. David Irwin and R. Mark Nelms
Published by Wiley
•
WileyPlus Web Access: This is required.
It comes for free if you purchase the book through the campus book store
You can buy it separately on-line for $50 (see link on Blackboard)
 It includes the entire book so you could just buy this and use the on-line book (you can print
from the on-line book)
 If you buy the access on-line you can buy the book directly from Wiley for a discount (see
info at Wiley link on Blackboard)
•
Lecture Notes: Will be posted on Blackboard…
http://blackboard.cc.binghamton.edu/
I will post the lectures as PPT files
 the slides are quite “busy” with detail so this format allows you to view the notes on a
computer and see the step-by-step addition of details just as in class
 You should also print them out an bring them to class
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Course Overview
The world is full of electrical circuits…. Virtually every kind of engineer must be familiar with the
rudiments of how electrical circuits work because all engineers will invariably use electrical sensors to
measure something. (That is why circuits is a topic on the FE exam for professional engineer
registration.) For example,
 Mechanical Engineers need to be able to measure the vibration in a mechanical system and may
need to use a electrical sensor… they need to understand circuits in order to properly choose that
sensor so that it provides them with the right quality of measurements.
 Industrial Engineers need to be able to select electrical equipment for an industrial application…
they need to understand circuits in order to properly choose the equipment so that it works
properly together and yields the desired performance.
 Electrical and Computer Engineers need to be able to design electrical systems… they need to
understand circuits because it is the fundamental building block of just about everything else they
do!!!
Overall Course Goals: Students will learn the basics of electrical circuit analysis so that they can do the
following:
 Given a circuit consisting of DC voltage sources, DC current sources, and resistors… analytically
determine all voltages and currents throughout the circuit
 Given a circuit consisting of DC voltage sources, DC current sources, switches, resistors,
capacitors, and inductors… analytically determine how all the voltages and currents throughout
the circuit change a function of time after the switches are closed/opened.
 Given a circuit consisting of sinusoidal AC voltage sources, sinusoidal AC current sources,
resistors, capacitors, and inductors… analytically determine how all the sinusoidal AC voltages
and sinusoidal AC currents throughout the circuit.
Specific Course Coverage: We will cover the material in sequential order:
Ch. 1 – Ch. 8, Sect. 9.1 – 9.4
Class Attendance: You are expected to attend class. If you have a legitimate need to miss a class, see me
prior to the missed class.
Lab Attendance: Attendance will be taken in lab. You must be present to get credit for the lab. All labs
must be performed to pass the course.
3
Grading Details
Homework, Quizzes, Exams & Labs:
 HW Assignments
o An assignment every week
o No late HW will be accepted
o Lowest two HW scores will be dropped
 Weekly Quizzes
o Generally Announced (but possibly Unannounced, if attendance drops)
o 10 Minutes at beginning of class
o No make-ups for late arrivals or missed quizzes
o Lowest two quiz scores will be dropped
o Concept oriented questions & Simple calculations
o Closed notes & book… no formula sheet
 Two Midterm Exams (In Class… see Course Schedule on BB for dates)
o No make-ups for midterm exams if you can’t make the scheduled exam date/time
ƒ A missed midterm exam will be assigned a score equal to 90% of the average of
the other midterm’s score and the final exam score
o Closed notes & book
o One note sheet: double sided, 8.5” x 11”
 A Cumulative Final (during Finals Period)
o Closed notes & book
o Two note sheets: double sided, 8.5” x 11”
 Labs
o There are seven labs #0 - #6… (#0 is to acquaint you to the equipment & is not graded)
o Lowest lab score will be dropped
o Thus, there won’t be a lab every week
o However, on non-lab weeks the lab session time will be used as problem-solving sessions
Lecture Score:
 Homework & Quizzes:
 Midterm #1:
 Midterm #2:
 Final :
15%
25 %
25 %
35%
Lab Score:
 Each lab is worth 20 points… Lab Score = Sum of Five Highest Lab Scores
Course Score = 0.75×Lecture Score + 0.25×Lab Score)
A
= 93 – 100
A= 90 – 92
B+
= 87 – 89
B
= 83 – 86
B= 80 – 82
C+
= 77 – 79
C
= 73 – 76
C= 70 – 72
D
= 60 – 69
F
< 60
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Primary Course Objectives
These are the biggest of the main ideas of the course.
After completing this course, the student should have the ability to:
1. Analyze circuits containing resistors and DC sources using…
a. Ohm’s law, (Ch. 2)
b. Parallel & Series combinations (Ch. 2)
c. Wye-Delta conversions (Ch. 2)
d. Kirchhoff’s laws, (Ch. 2)
e. voltage divider, (Ch. 2)
f. nodal/mesh analysis. (Ch. 3)
g. Superposition (Ch. 5)
2. Calculate Thevenin and Norton equivalent circuits and to apply them in circuit analysis and
design. (Ch. 5)
3. Determine the differential equation of circuits containing resistors, capacitors, inductors, DC
sources, and switches. (Ch. 6 & 7)
4. Determine the transient response of first-order and second-order circuits containing resistors,
capacitors, inductors, DC sources, and switches. (Ch. 7)
5. Determine the sinusoidal steady-state response using complex impedances and phasor
representations. (Ch. 8)
Secondary Course Objectives
These are some other topics covered in the course and require application of the primary objectives.
After completing this course, the student should have the ability to:
1. Use the various circuit analysis techniques to analyze circuits containing op amps and resistors,
capacitors, and inductors. (Ch. 4
2. Analyze a circuit