2. Resistive voltage dividers

2.1 Properties. Load effect

In their elementary form, resistive voltage dividers have :

• an input resistor R ₀ = R ₁ + R ₂ which we will assume to be constant ;

• a reduction ratio a = R ₂ /R ₀ .

The equivalent diagram deduced from Thévenin's theorem consists of a source of electromotive force aU (U being the voltage actually applied to the divider) and internal resistance :