Page 8 - Electrical Engineering Dictionary

As a result, the entries vary widely in content from short, one-sentence definitions to
rather long dissertations. While I tried to provide some homogeneity in the process of
editing, I neither wanted to tread on the feet of the experts and possibly corrupt the
meaning of the definitions (after all, I am not an expert in any of the representative
areas of the dictionary) nor did I want to interfere with the individual styles of the
authors. As a result, I think the dictionary contains a diverse and rich exposition
that collectively provides good insights into the areas intended to be covered by the
dictionary. Moreover, I was pleased to find the resultant collection much more lively,
personal, and user-friendly than typical dictionaries.
Finally, we took advantage of the rich CRC library of handbooks, including The
Control Handbook, Electronics Handbook, Image Processing Handbook, Circuits and
Filters Handbook, and The Electrical Engineering Handbook, to pick up any defini-
tions that were missing or incomplete. About 1000 terms were take from the CRC
handbooks. We also borrowed, with permission from IEEE, about 40 definitions that
could not be found elsewhere or could not be improved upon.
Despite the incredible support from my area editors, individual contributors, and
staff at CRC Press, the final task of arbitrating conflicting definitions, rewording those
that did not seem descriptive enough, and identifying missing ones was left to me. I
hope that I have not failed you terribly in my task.

How to use the dictionary

The dictionary is organized like a standard language dictionary except that not ev-
ery word used in the dictionary is defined there (this would necessitate a complete
embedding of an English dictionary). However, we tried to define most non-obvious
technical terms used in the definition of another term.
In some cases more than one definition is given for a term. These are denoted (1),
(2), (3), ..., etc. Multiple definitions were given in cases where the term has multiple
distinct meanings in differing fields, or when more than one equivalent but uniquely
descriptive definition was available to help increase understanding. In a few cases, I
just couldn’t decide between two definitions. Pick the definition that seems to fit your
situation most closely. The notation 1., 2., etc. is used to itemize certain elements of
a definition and are not to be confused with multiple definitions.
Acronym terms are listed by their expanded name. Under the acronym the reader is
referred to that term. For example, if you look up “RISC” you will find “See reduced
instruction set computer,” where the definition can be found. The only exceptions
are in the cases where the expanded acronym might not make sense, or where the
acronym itself has become a word (such as “laser” or “sonar”).
While I chose to include some commonly used symbols (largely upon the recom-
mendations of the contributors and area editors), this was not a principle focus of the
dictionary and I am sure that many have been omitted.

© 2000 CRC Press LLC