R/C Integrators

Most electronic textbooks and handbooks have a section about 'R/C integrators.' A single-section R/C integrator is a simple three-terminal network with resistor connected between the input and output terminals and a capacitor connected from the output terminal to the common ground terminal. R/C integrators function as simple lowpass filters. They have many applications in electronic circuits and are widely used. However, the name can be misleading and that fact is rarely explained in electronic texts. R/C integrators integrate in the common meaning of the word, in that they mix together information contained in different time-frames. However, to a mathematician, integration is the process of finding an integral, which is the reverse of the process of finding a derivative. That is somewhat similar, but is not what R/C integrators do. ©2005 Tigertek, Inc. All rights reserved.

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