Preface
This book began life as a selection of tables for electronics engineers. Dealing with such common requirements as setting op-amp gains, forming non-standard resistor values from standard pairs and setting CR time constants, it was my hope that such a book would find common favour.
In writing explanatory notes to accompany these tables, I found myself constantly wondering how much knowledge to assume on the part of the reader. After all, the book should be as useful to a beginner as to a professional with 20 years of experience.
The time came to make a decision, and Part One was born. In it I have attempted to go from first principles to the point where the reader can hope to understand the workings of the circuits discussed in Parts Two and Three with little prior knowledge. My intention has been to be non-mathematical, logical and concise. I have drawn a line at explaining the workings of electronic devices as there is not time or space, and this book only deals with them in the final chapter. An overview of the op-amp is given there. I hope that Part One provides a useful foundation for the beginner and a point of reference for the more experienced.
How well all this works as a whole will not be seen until the book is subjected to the final test by its readership. It is my hope that it will prove a valuable aid to you, whatever your level of experience. I will be happy to receive comments, criticism or suggestions for future improvement (and also to hear about any places where my spellchecker replaced ‘squarewave’ with ‘scurvy’ without my asking it to).