Resistors in series current question

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According to Wikipedia, the current of resistors in series will be Vin/R1+R2. Now I could be over thinking this but is that the current that you'll get out or is that just used for determining the power of resistors or both?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltage_divider

Best Answer

You are measuring the current through the circuit. By Ohm's Law you know the current through a resistor is proportional to the applied voltage. But what happens when you don't know the voltage across the terminals of the device (i.e. what's the voltage at the middle node of the voltage divider?).

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You can figure that out simply enough if you know the current through the network. Simply combine the resistor into a single component and apply the same rules as if it were a single resistor.

$$i = \frac{V}{R_3}$$

Where

$$R_3 = R_1 + R_2$$

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