The Student Room Group

Series or parallel?



How do you determine which of the above resistors are in parallel and which are in series? I struggle a lot with this.


Posted from TSR Mobile
(edited 10 years ago)
R2 and R3 are both connected to the same start and end point in the circuit, so are in parallel. Calculate their combined resistance using the 1/R rule, and then treat those two as a resistor in series with R1.
I think R1 and R2 are in series and R3 is in parallel :smile:
Original post by MidnightDream
I think R1 and R2 are in series and R3 is in parallel :smile:


Original post by ryan9900
R1 & R2 in series, R3 in parallel.

Wrong, R1 and R2 are not in series!

Listen to PythianLegume, OP.
Reply 4
Original post by PythianLegume
R2 and R3 are both connected to the same start and end point in the circuit, so are in parallel. Calculate their combined resistance using the 1/R rule, and then treat those two as a resistor in series with R1.


Sorry but what do you mean with the part in bold?
Original post by sabre2th1
Sorry but what do you mean with the part in bold?


Well the two black dots in the circuit mark the point at which two paths diverge and then come together. In each of these paths, there is a resistor. Therefore they are in parallel.

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