The theoretical foundations of linear circuit theory rest on Maxwell’s theory of electromagnetism. In its more applied form, circuit theory rests on the key concepts of Kirchoff’s Laws, impedance, Ohm’s Law (in its most general sense by encompassing impedances), and the Principle of Superposition. From this foundation, any linear circuit can be solved: Given a specification of all sources in th...

As described in my previous paper [1], the voltage-source equivalent was first derived by Hermann von Helmholtz (1821–1894) in a 1853 paper [2]. Exactly thirty years later in 1883, Léon Charles Thévenin (1857–1926) published the same result [3, 4] apparently unaware of Helmholtz’s work. The generality of the equivalent source network was not appreciated until forty-three years later. Then, in 1...