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Circuit Cellar Online offers articles illustrating creative solutions
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WHAT'S YOUR ENGINEERING QUOTIENT?

Problem 3—What wire size is required by the National Electrical Code for 15-A circuits? 20-A? 30-A?

ANSWER

Problem 4—The normal (or Gaussian) distribution has its maximum at zero. When working with a complex number where real part and imaginary part are idependent normal distributions, the magnitude is Rayleigh distributed. Yet, the Rayleigh distribution has its maximum somewhere on the positive axis and not at zero. How does this fit together? When looking at the Rayleigh distribution you expect that the three-dimensional picture of the distribution of the complex number looks like a circular well with a valley at zero. But from the interpretion as two normal distributions, it should look like a mountain with its peak at zero. Explain!

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