Editing Electrical network (section)

===By lumpiness===
Discrete [[passive component]]s (resistors, capacitors and inductors) are called ''lumped elements'' because all of their, respectively, resistance, capacitance and inductance is assumed to be located ("lumped") at one place.  This design philosophy is called the [[lumped-element model]] and networks so designed are called ''lumped-element circuits''.  This is the conventional approach to circuit design.  At high enough frequencies, or for long enough circuits (such as [[Electric power transmission|power transmission lines]]), the lumped assumption no longer holds because there is a significant fraction of a [[wavelength]] across the component dimensions.  A new design model is needed for such cases called the [[distributed-element model]].  Networks designed to this model are called ''[[distributed-element circuit]]s''.

A distributed-element circuit that includes some lumped components is called a ''semi-lumped'' design.  An example of a semi-lumped circuit is the [[combline filter]].