Electric Circuits·passive-sign-convention-power-calculation

Passive Sign Convention Power Calculation

Given voltage and current values with specified polarities at a circuit element, determine the instantaneous power using the passive sign convention. Classify whether the element is absorbing or delivering power based on the sign of the result.

✓ All 3 test cases pass.

Inputs

Voltage across element

Voltage value in volts (can be positive or negative)

Current through element

Current value in amperes (can be positive or negative)

Test cases

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#	Inputs	Expected	Got	Status
1	{"voltage":-20,"current":-4}	80	80 $P = V \times I = -20 \times -4 = 80 \text{ W}$	✓
2	{"voltage":20,"current":4}	80	80 $P = V \times I = 20 \times 4 = 80 \text{ W}$	✓
3	{"voltage":-20,"current":4}	-80	-80 $P = V \times I = -20 \times 4 = -80 \text{ W}$	✓

APIDeveloper APICall this calculator from codeexpand ↓

Endpoint

POST/api/calculators/electric-circuits/passive-sign-convention-power-calculation/compute

Inputs (2)

voltagenumberdefault 20
currentnumberdefault 4

Example

curl -sX POST http://localhost:3001/api/calculators/electric-circuits/passive-sign-convention-power-calculation/compute \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"inputs":{"voltage":20,"current":4}}'

Try it live

Edit the body below, then click Call API.

Request body

Response

(click Call API to see the response)

full API docs →

Source: Pattern from: James W. Nilsson, Susan A. Riedel - Electric Circuits 11e - Instructor’s Solution Manual-Pearson (2019).pdf. Reproduces a standard passive-sign-convention-power-calculation computation; problem text paraphrased.

AI disclosure: Calculator code generated by anthropic/claude-haiku-4-5-20251001; verified by 3 test cases.