Equivalent Capacitance for 4 capacitors of same capacitance

[nasdogster]

Homework Statement

Part A Given 4 capacitors of the same capacitance C,
(a) list all values of capacitance you could obtain by connecting up to 4 capacitors.
(b) Construct a table with two columns: the first column contains all possible values of capacitance in increasing order, and the second column contains all nonequivalent configurations corresponding to each value.
Part B Given a box of 10 capacitors, each of capacitance 470μF, find configurations of at least 5 capacitors with equivalent capacitance as close as possible to
(a) 250μF and
(b) 2mF.

Homework Equations

what does it mean by all values of capacitance? is there more than one?
what does nonequivalent configuration mean for each values of capacitance?

in part b, i do not even know how to initiate solving the problem.
need help please.

The Attempt at a Solution

all i know is an equation for equivalent capacitance
1/C' = 1/C1+ 1/C2+ 1/C3+ 1/C4

 

[Simon Bridge]

Welcome to PF;

what does it mean by all values of capacitance? is there more than one?

There is more than one way to combine the four capacitors - i.e. all four in series, all four in parallel ... there are others.

what does nonequivalent configuration mean for each values of capacitance?

There may more than one configuration that gives the same value for capacitance.
However, in this case they configurations that are not equivalent electronically. i.e. two caps in series followed by two in parallel would be equivalent to two in parallel followed by two in series.

in part b, i do not even know how to initiate solving the problem.
need help please.

Part B is much the same as part A except you have the target capacitances ... You will have to start out by using trial and error until you get a feel for what sort of numbers you will end up with for different configurations.