1st year electrical books

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scotty777

...doesn't know
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I'm not sure if this is the most ideal of places to ask, but anyway, here I go...

I'm currently in 1st year Electrical Engineering. Now Wits has given us a book for circuits and electrical systems, however, it's a little tricky to understand. So I request are their any good books that are available that will cover this area?
 
scotty777 said:
I'm not sure if this is the most ideal of places to ask, but anyway, here I go...

I'm currently in 1st year Electrical Engineering. Now Wits has given us a book for circuits and electrical systems, however, it's a little tricky to understand. So I request are their any good books that are available that will cover this area?
Click to expand...

if u didnt go to a technical high school the first 2 months of this course will be very confusing...and annoying because everyone else seems to know what they are doing...

I did have some decent books i used, will scratch around at home and see if i can find the names...
otherwise just hang in there...grab one of the technical guys and do assignments with them...
by 2nd semester u will be on a similar playing field.
 
The book that I used was written by Boylestead I think. All the books are going to be tricky at first, just try to hang in there. There is some nice tutorials online, if I were you I would give it a try.
 
I had an pdf of electrical something or other for dummies. That helped with a few things.

I can't remember the names of my others books for first year, but they were big and technical, and in general my knowledge came from lecture notes which were usually better

Ask the tutors, I know the one guy at Wits and maybe he will be able to help you out with a few book names.
 
Take a look at The Art of Electronics by Horowitz and Hill - it's probably available on isohunt but a hard copy might be a good investment.
 
I agree, the writing style of those books make it tricky to understand.

I think the one on my booklist when i was in first year was Introduction to Electric Circuits by C.Dorf and James A.Svoboda.
I got the 7th edition, but I think there might be an 8th edition by now.
Did seem to help me understand some concepts.
 
Just go up to the engineering library. There you will find plenty of other electronics books, like the Art of Electronics and Introduction to Electric Circuits as already mentioned. If you like something you find in the library, then go out and buy it. You'll most likely need it for the next 4 years ;)
 
scotty777 said:
I'm not sure if this is the most ideal of places to ask, but anyway, here I go...

I'm currently in 1st year Electrical Engineering. Now Wits has given us a book for circuits and electrical systems, however, it's a little tricky to understand. So I request are their any good books that are available that will cover this area?
Click to expand...

Hey Scotty

1st - what book did they prescribe?

2nd - what is your syllabus looking like? (It's been nearly 20 years.... I'm a bit out of touch with how things are going now)
 
Yotch said:
Take a look at The Art of Electronics by Horowitz and Hill - it's probably available on isohunt but a hard copy might be a good investment.
Click to expand...

Brilliant book, thought it might still be a bit over a first-year's head. What book did they give you, Scotty? I've found that my Physics text book (Resnick and Walker - something like that) explained some of the principals much better. Can't remember what book we used for electronics, though. PM me sometime Thursday morning and I'll have a look. I'll then ask one of my colleagues who studies at Wits (shame, left him scarred for life :P) what extra resources Wits have available to help. At Tuks we had a large network of old exam papers which included excellent examples, tutorial questions and solved problems that made life much easier.

BTW - I'm currently in the process of finishing my MEng(Electronic) at Tuks - so I still remember my own 1st year issues and problems.
 
The book Wits gave me is a "private" book at was written by a lecturer from Wits... Apparently it's meant to be easier to work with because it's more concise, but it's all rather confusing... and worst of all is that I'm scratching my head when integration comes along (never done it before :( ), and sadly, everything seems to use integration.

As for my syllabus... seems like we doing Op-amps, and will move onto Phases and stuff along those lines (don't expect me to write down whats in the syllabus because I have no clue as to what any of it means). I think I might be making a big huff out of nothing though... Bleh, chem test tomorrow to spoil my day :(
 
we used 'Fundamentals of electrical circuits', by Alexander and Sadiku, at tuks last year (during my 1st year), but all in all, circuits are really easy during the first year if you understand the kirchoff laws and basic concepts, its confusing at first but once you grasp it you can't go wrong, the only trick is to really work accurately. Op-amps are all about learning the properties etc
 
ah good ol days.

as mentioned before, Art of Electronics was pretty decent. I used that to get some confusing info out of the way. You should be doing integration in Maths I soon. We did circuits in the 2nd half of the year after we learnt integration so it's interesting you guys are starting it first.
 
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