Implicit Linear Algebra and Basic Circuit Theory

In this paper we derive some basic results of circuit theory using Implicit Linear Algebra' (ILA). This approach has the advantage of simplicity and generality. Implicit linear algebra is outlined in [1]. We denote the space of all vectors on $S$ by $\mathcal{F}_S$ and the space containing only the zero vector on $S$ by $\mathbf{0}_S.$ The dual $\mathcal{V}_S^{\perp}$ of a vector space $\mathcal{V}_S$ is the collection of all vectors whose dot product with vectors in $\mathcal{V}_S$ is zero. The basic operation of ILA is a linking operation ('matched composition) between vector spaces ${\mathcal{V}}_{SP},{\mathcal{V}}_{PQ}$ (regarded as collections of row vectors on column sets $S\cup P,P\cup Q,$ respectively with $S,P,Q$ disjoint) defined by $$\mathcal{V}${SP}\leftrightarrow $\mathcal{V}${PQ}\equiv {(f_S,h_Q):((f_S,g_P)\in $\mathcal{V}${SP}, (g_P,h_Q) \in $\mathcal{V}${PQ}},$andanother{(}^{\mathrm{\prime }}skewedcomposition\mathrm{‘})definedby$$\mathcal{V}${SP}\rightleftharpoons $\mathcal{V}${PQ}\equiv {(f_S,h_Q):((f_S,g_P)\in $\mathcal{V}${SP}, (-g_P,h_Q) \in $\mathcal{V}${PQ}}.$ThebasicresultsofILAaretheImplicitInversionTheorem(whichstatesthat$$\mathcal{V}${SP}\leftrightarrow($\mathcal{V}${SP}\leftrightarrow $\mathcal{V}$S)= $\mathcal{V}$S,$iff$$\mathcal{V}${SP}\leftrightarrow $\mathbf{0}$P\subseteq $\mathcal{V}$S\subseteq $\mathcal{V}${SP}\leftrightarrow$\mathcal{F}$S$) and Implicit Duality Theorem (which states that $($\mathcal{V}${SP}\leftrightarrow $\mathcal{V}${PQ})^{\perp}= ($\mathcal{V}${SP}^{\perp}\rightleftharpoons $\mathcal{V}$_{PQ}^{\perp}$). We show that the operations and results of ILA are useful in understanding basic circuit theory. We illustrate this by using ILA to present a generalization of Thevenin-Norton theorem where we compute multiport behaviour using adjoint multiport termination through a gyrator and a very general version of maximum power transfer theorem, which states that the port conditions that appear, during adjoint multiport termination through an ideal transformer, correspond to maximum power transfer.