ST UDENTS leam to write Kirchhoff current law (KCL) node equations and Kirchhoff voltage law (KVL) mesh
equations. Many introductory circuit theory textbooks [ 11-[6]
show that the node (mesh) analysis conductance (resistance)
matrix of a circuit having no dependent sources is symmetric,
and inspection of the circuit gives the matrix components directly.
In the node (mesh) analysis method, diagonal elements
consist of the sum of conductances (resistances) affected by
the node voltage (mesh current). Negative mutual terms enter
into off-diagonal positions and account for current (voltage)
components in the equations due to adjacent node voltages
(mesh currents). Independent current (voltage) sources enter
directly into the excitation matrix on the right-hand side of
the matrix formulation. Independent ground-connected voltage
(perimeter current) sources in node (mesh) equations give
no difficulty, since these identify node voltages (mesh currents)
where KCL (KVL) equations usually are unnecessary.
Independent floating voltage (internal current) sources also
enter directly into the matrix equations using the supemode
(supermesh) method. The effect of voltage-controlled current
(current-controlled voltage) sources in node (mesh) analysis is
simple, but the remaining types of dependent sources do not
enter the node (mesh) equations in a simple and direct way.
In this paper we show how to write node or mesh analysis
matrix equations for a linear circuit by inspection of the circuit
and derive a general matrix solution for the node-voltage or the
mesh-current vector. This matrix solution has a form similar to