Current Divider

Consider the current divider shown in figure 1.3b. The source current is divided between the two resistors and is given by . The voltage at the output is . The output current from the current divider is thus

Example: Determine an expression for the current through the resistor in the circuit shown in figure 1.5.

 
Figure 1.5:  Example current divider.

The current I is divided amongst the three resistors and hence we use our expression for resistors in parallel

where is the common voltage across the three parallel resistors. The current through is thus

Now lets consider some general approaches to solving for unknowns in circuits.