Thevenin and Notron Equivalen sources, external to load

[mattsaindon]

Homework Statement

Solve power dissipated by RL
Find a new values for RL that will receive maximum power
solve for the maximum power that can be delivered

Homework Equations

Nodal analysis
mesh analysis
superpostion
etc..

The Attempt at a Solution

Hello guys, I've beein looking around on the internet for some time now on how to set up and use Thevenin and Norton equvenalcy, not having such luck, i get puzzled how to simply a circuit with an unknown using either nodal analysis or rmesh, mesh is giving me troubles because it requires the resistance values to be know (so i think) i can use Thevenin and Norton with all the known values but as soon as the "load" resistance is unknown and its asking me to solve i am clueless..
looking for a little guiidance, if any of you know of a good website or how to go about this let me know. thanks in advance
matt

**the firstdoc in my work
second is the base question...

 

[sandy.bridge]

Do you have an introductory circuit analysis textbook? It would most definitely be in there.
Here's a link that describes the process: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thévenin's_theorem

Take the resistor you are wanting to analyze out of the circuit (ie. replace the element RL with an open circuit).
Find the total resistance of that circuit between the terminals of the open circuit. You can short voltage sources, and you can replace current sources with an open circuit. This total resistance will be your Thevenin resistance.
Next, find the voltage across the terminals of the open circuit where the load resistor was in the original circuit. This total value will be your Thevenin equivalent voltage.