See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/257810349

Steinmetz and the Concept of Phasor: A Forgotten Story

Article · June 2013

DOI: 10.1007/s40313-013-0030-5

CITATIONS READS

6 6,246

2 authors:

Antônio Emílio Angueth de Araújo Danny Augusto Vieira Tonidandel

Federal University of Minas Gerais Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto
22 PUBLICATIONS   168 CITATIONS    13 PUBLICATIONS   12 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Fluid analogies in the history of electricity View project

História das transformadas de Fourier, Laplace e Z View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Antônio Emílio Angueth de Araújo on 26 February 2015.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Steinmetz and the Concept of Phasor: A
Forgotten Story

A. E. A. Araújo & D. A. V. Tonidandel

Journal of Control, Automation and

Electrical Systems
formerly CONTROLE & AUTOMAÇÃO

ISSN 2195-3880

J Control Autom Electr Syst

DOI 10.1007/s40313-013-0030-5

1 23
Your article is protected by copyright and
all rights are held exclusively by Brazilian
Society for Automatics--SBA. This e-offprint
is for personal use only and shall not be self-
archived in electronic repositories. If you wish
to self-archive your article, please use the
accepted manuscript version for posting on
your own website. You may further deposit
the accepted manuscript version in any
repository, provided it is only made publicly
available 12 months after official publication
or later and provided acknowledgement is
given to the original source of publication
and a link is inserted to the published article
on Springer's website. The link must be
accompanied by the following text: "The final
publication is available at link.springer.com”.

1 23
 Author's personal copy
J Control Autom Electr Syst
DOI 10.1007/s40313-013-0030-5
Steinmetz and the Concept of Phasor: A Forgotten Story
A. E. A. Araújo · D. A. V. Tonidandel
Received: 21 May 2012 / Revised: 16 July 2012 / Accepted: 6 September 2012
© Brazilian Society for Automatics–SBA 2013
Abstract The history of the concept of phasor is often
neglected when it is introduced in textbooks on circuits.
The presentation does not emphasize the historical aspects,
which is natural. This paper intends to recover the origi-
nal and creative way the concept of complex numbers, then
almost unknown to engineers, was applied to electric circuits
in sinusoidal steady-state. As usual in physics and engineer-
ing, the theory of phasor could have been anticipated by ear-
lier researchers, if they had followed their original reason-
ings. Maxwell and Heaviside had proved the meal, but could
not, or were not interested in writing the recipe.
Keywords Phasor · Steady-state · Circuit theory.
1 Introduction
Textbooks on circuit analysis, in general, treat the subject
of the sinusoidal steady-state in a standard form, with two
possible variations. The first approach is to consider a rotat-
ing vector, with angular velocity equal to the frequency of the
sinusoidal wave it intends to represent, making the horizontal
projection of this vector to correspond to the instantaneous
value of this wave, at the instant of time at which the pro-
jection is taken (Johnson et al. 1990; Kerchner and Corcoran
1977; Sadiku 2008; valkenburg 1974).
A. E. A. Araújo
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais-UFMG,
Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
e-mail: araujo@cpdee.ufmg.br
D. A. V. Tonidandel (B)
Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto-UFOP,
Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, Brazil
e-mail: tonidandel@decat.em.ufop.br
Another way to introduce such concept, mathematically
more formal, is presented in Nilsson and Riedel (2009),
where the authors define a phasor transform, intended to
transform one generalized sinusoid in a complex number.
Textbooks on physics which cover the subject do not inno-
vate in what was described above (Feynman et al. 1963).
The concept of phasor was created through a different
process, if compared with the pedagogical schema chosen
by several authors dealing with the topic. This creation had
two anticipations before taking its definitive shape. The first
appears in a almost forgotten Maxwell’s (1868) paper that
presents, for the first time (Blanchard 1941), the solution of
the current in a series R LC circuit, feeded by an alternating
sinusoidal voltage source. The other one appears in a Oliver
Heaviside’s paper, published by the Royal Society of London
(Heaviside 1893b).
The genesis of a concept is, many times, different from
later formulations, so as to make the reader completely
unaware of the original path followed by the pioneer. These
pathways are going to be the object of the present paper.
It is intended, at first, to describe the unique way in which
Maxwell addresses the problem, showing how his genius
took him to a solution very similar to the modern method.
It is observed a possible anticipation of the idea of using
complex number in the treatment of sinusoidal steady-state.
Three curiosities are presented. The first is the inter-
esting story of an article in which appears for the first
time the concept of phasor, then presented in the AIEE
(American Institute of Electrical Engineering) meeting—
IEEE grandmother’s institution—and not published in the
meeting proceedings, for lack of funds. The second is the
apparent inexistence of a relationship between Steinmetz and
Heaviside, two electrical engineering giants who, living in
the same period—end of 19th, beginning of 20th century—,
apparently did not know each other’s work. The third is the
123
 Author's personal copy
Fig. 1 Ruhmkorff Coil (Wikipedia, 2012)
conjecture of a possible participation of both Fourier and
William Thomson in the genesis of the concept of phasor.
2 Maxwell and the Steady-State of a RLC Circuit
In March 1868, the young Maxwell visited the William
Robert Grove’s laboratory. Grove was a famous scientist,
then fellow of the prestigious Royal Society for almost three
decades, and four years after this fortuitus encounter he was
honored with the knighthood. In this meeting, the future Sir
W. R. Grove presented to Maxwell a curious phenomenon he
had discovered while working with a induction coil, feeded
by an alternating current.
The induction coil or Ruhmkorff coil was one of the few
electric lab equipments available at the time. It was noth-
ing more than a transformer, with a high relation of turns, in
which a intermittent DC voltage was applied in the primary
(with few turns), which caused a high voltage to appear in the
secondary, which caused an electric arc in a point-to-point
gap connected to it. (see Fig. 1). The continuous voltage was
supplied by a pile and the intermittence were originated from
a magnetically operated switch that when closed, connected
the capacitor in series with the transformer’s primary and
when opened, short-circuited the capacitor. If a current cir-
culated in the primary, causing an arc in the secondary, the
switch would be closed by a magnetic attraction, connecting
the capacitor in series with the primary, making the current
vanish and, thus, causing the switch to open. When opened,
it short-circuited the capacitor and caused again a current
circulation in the transformer’s primary, causing another arc
(see Fig. 2). In normal operations, this arrangement supplied
an almost permanent electric arc in the secondary, which was
the object of research of Sir W. R. Grove.
Grove (1868), in the course of his research, replaced the
pile by an electric machine working as a generator and
observed, in a short communication to The Royal Society,
123
J Control Autom Electr Syst
Fig. 2 Electric scheme of the Ruhmkorff Coil (WikimediaCommons,
2012)
Fig. 3 Ruhmkorff Coil circuit, as conceived by Maxwell (1868).
that the arc in the secondary coil rapidly raised in inten-
sity if the capacitor was included in circuit, and vanished if
the capacitor was removed. This is the phenomenon that he
presented to Maxwell. In the next morning after the meet-
ing in W.R. Grove’s laboratory, Maxwell addressed to the
famous scientist a letter, which was sent by the recipient to
the Philosophical Magazine, which published it in May 1869
(Maxwell 1868).
In the letter, Maxwell unveiled the apparent mystery,
calculating the alternating current that passed through the
transformer’s primary coil, in a phenomenon currently called
resonance. The way he used to calculate the current is an
anticipation of the concept of phasor and is described in
sequence, using his own notation, as illustrated in the Fig. 3.
In the figure, the variable x is the current that circulates in
the transformer’s primary coil and through the series con-
nected capacitor. The variable y is the current that passes
through the resistor, of resistance ρ (in parallel with the
capacitor), whose value (zero or ∞) simulates position of
the switch (of Ruhmkorff’s coil), closed or opened. The
Maxwell’s reasoning is as follows: the voltage drop in the
resistor, of resistance ρ, is P = ρy. Thus, the charge in
the capacitor is
dP
C = x − y,
dt
 Author's personal copy
J Control Autom Electr Syst

where x obeys the equation 3 Steinmetz and Heaviside

dx The concept of phasor introduces a relation between the sinu-

Mn cos nt + Rx + L + P = 0,
dt soidal steady-state behavior of a circuit and complex num-
where Mn cos nt is the voltage at the terminals of the gen- bers. This relation, used by Steinmetz when elaborating the
erator, R is the resistance of the primary’s coil and L is its concept, appears almost simultaneously, as mentioned above,
inductance. in a paper due to Heaviside, published by the The Royal
Maxwell then made the crucial supposition that the current Society of London (Heaviside 1893b)
x has the form In this paper, Heaviside noted that, for physical systems
under harmonic forces1 , his operational method produced
x = A cos(nt + α) , the exact solution, provided that p = −n 2 , where p was his
operator (precursor of the variable s of the Laplace trans-
and observed that if it was the case, then form) (Tonidandel and Araújo 2012b) and n is the frequency
of the sinusoid. This made his operator a pure imaginary
M 2 n 2 (1 + C 2 ρ 2 n 2 ) and introduced the algebra of complex numbers in the treat-
A2 =
ρ 2 [(1 − LCn 2 )2 + R 2 C 2 n 2 ] + 2Rρ + R 2 + Ln 2 ment of sinusoidal steady-state—actually, in the treatment
and of steady-state of physical systems. The concept of phasor
1 R + ρ − LCρn 2 would make the complex numbers its foundation, completely
α = cot −1 − cot −1 .
Cρn RCρn + Ln in agreement with Heaviside’s ideas.
Heaviside did not formalized the concept of phasor,
From the previous formulation, Maxwell concluded that, if because all seems to indicate that others were then his con-
ρ = 0, then cerns. Nevertheless is interesting to notice that 1893 is the
year of both the presentation of the Heaviside’s paper as well
M 2n2
A2 = , as the Steinmtez’s (1893), in which he would present the
R2 + L 2n2 concept of phasor.
in other words, in our usual language of circuits, the mag- Oliver Heaviside and Charles Proteus Steinmetz seem not
nitude of the phasor current is the magnitude of the phasor to have known each other’s work. Both were electrical engi-
voltage divided by the magnitude of the impedance of the neering geniuses and contributed enormously for the future
primary, because the capacitor is short-circuited. developments in the area. Both lived approximately at the
If ρ = ∞, same time—Steinmetz from 1863 to 1923 and Heaviside
from 1850 to 1925—and, however, one did not demonstrated
M 2n2 to know the work of the other.
A2 = , Several factors could have contributed to this fact, among
1 2
R2 + (Ln − ) which we may cite: Heaviside’s proverbial grudge toward
Cn
other scientists and his unwillingness to make his work
thus characterizing a resonance phenomenon, because if acquainted; the notorious antagonism and incommunicabil-
C Ln 2 = 1, the current magnitude is maximum, with ity between the island (England) and the continent; and the
Mn more theoretical emphasis in Heaviside’s work, in contrast
A= . to the more applied emphasis in Steinmetz’s work.
R
Steinmetz wrote, among others, two books in which he
This current value is the explanation that Maxwell offered would have wide opportunity to cite Heaviside’s work and
to Sir W. R. Grove, after an sleepless and very productive use the methods of the Englishman. In one of them, published
night. initially in 1908, he treated specifically the theory of electric
If Maxwell had established, from this simple analysis, a transients, area for which Heaviside developed his opera-
general methodology for the solution of circuits in sinusoidal tional method. There is not a single mention to the method
steady-state, in which only the magnitudes of the currents or to the Heaviside’s work in the almost 700 pages of the
and voltages were used, together with relations (that we now book. In 1917, Steinmetz published the 3rd edition of a set
call impedances) that could take on values dependent on the of lectures taught at the Union College, on the mathemat-
elements of circuit in form R 2 + (Ln − 1/Cn)2 , he would ics applied to electrical engineering (Steinmetz 1917). This
certainly formulate something close to the modern phasorial
analysis, that would anticipate, in more than twenty years, 1 All non-trivial solution of the Laplace’s Equation—a partial differ-
the foundation of the concept of phasor, which would be ential equation represented by ∇ 2 u = 0—is called harmonic function.
established by Steinmetz. Trigonometric functions are examples of harmonic functions.

123
 Author's personal copy
book contains a chapter devoted to differential equations,
both ordinary as well as partial. A historical outlook of the
operational calculus and its evolution in terms of the Laplace
transform can be found in Tonidandel and Araújo (2012b).
What is intriguing is that a Steinmetz colleague, Ernest
Julius Berg, eminent engineer and professor, assistant and
successor of Steinmetz in charge of the Department of Elec-
tric Engineering of the Union College, in Schenectady, New
York, was a great admirer of Heaviside and his mathemat-
ical methods. He even published, in 1929, an interesting
book about operational calculus (Berg 1929) which con-
tains a short biography of Heaviside, then recently deceased,
wherein it is possible to realize all his admiration for the
English genius.
Although the objective of this paper is not to follow the
history of how the concept of phasor was being incorpo-
rated in the books on circuit analysis, it is interesting to note
that another Heaviside disciple was the first author to record,
in a book, the technique developed by Steinmetz. And it is
no coincidence that this book presented, for the first time,
the complete theory of the Laplace transform, that would
come to replace the Heaviside’s Operational Calculus. It is
the John Carson’s (1926) classic book on the theory of elec-
tric circuits, published in 1926. In the book, Carson, treating
the sinusoidal steady-state of circuits, develop the symbolic
compact solution for the current, including the same nota-
tion used by Steinmetz for his methodology, as it will be
seen later. He also cites, in the bibliography, two works of
Steinmetz.
4 A Non-Published Paper
The Steinmetz’s (1893) paper that introduces the concept of
phasor was published only four years after presented and the
method developed in it, which Steinmetz named ‘symbolic
method’, remained unknown until 1897, when the author
published a book on the theory of circuits (Steinmetz 1897).
According to Steinmetz himself: ‘there was no money to pub-
lish in the Congress paper, and the paper remained unpub-
lished for years, and the symbolic method unknown. In the
meanwhile, I developed it further in its application to all
kinds of alternating-current apparatus or phenomena, and
presented it in a number of papers before the AIEE’ (Rem-
scheid 1977).
5 The Challenge of Sinusoidal Variation
To understand how a sinusoidal wave was a challenge for the
engineers of the end of 19th century, it is illustrative to follow
the Steinmetz’s explanation on the perplexities of the time.
He used to say (Remscheid 1977):
123
J Control Autom Electr Syst
‘There are two kinds of electric currents in industrial
use: Direct currents and alternating currents. The direct
current continuously flows in the same direction and
its action calculated numerically in a simple manner.
The alternating current is a current which continu-
ously changes: It rises from nothing to a maximum,
then decreasing again to nothing, reverses direction and
decreases again in zero, again reverses and starts again
in the first direction, and so on, reversing usually 120
times in a second. Both types of current were used since
the early days of electrical engineering, and there was
no difficult in making calculations with the direct cur-
rent: it had a direction and a value, which could be
measured by an ammeter’.
Steinmetz continues:
‘But the alternating current had no value and no direc-
tion; its value continuously changed, and so the direc-
tion, and in all calculations with alternating current,
instead of a simple mechanical value of the direct cur-
rent theory, the investigator had to use a complicated
function of time to represent the alternating current,
and the theory of alternating current apparatus thereby
became so complicated that the investigator never got
very far. In the meantime the practical electrician who
built and ran alternating current machinery, put an
ammeter in the alternating current circuit and found
that some ammeters (those having permanent magnets)
showed nothing, but other ammeters showed a value,
and that they called the value of the alternating current.
It is what we now call the “effective” or rms value of
the alternating current. The practical engineering so got
a numerical value of the alternating current, but you
could not make any calculation with it. For instance,
two such alternating currents combined gave a resul-
tant current, which usually was smaller than the sum of
the currents and sometimes even smaller than either of
the currents’.
Here is, in clear terms, what difficulties challenged the
engineers of the time and why a method of treating time-
varying waves was essential for the development of Elec-
trical Engineering. It is possible to realize, by the impasses
described by Steinmetz, the importance of the theory of pha-
sors created by him.
6 Steinmetz’s Symbolic Method
Steinmtez associates, in his book (Steinmetz 1897), a char-
acteristic circle to all sinusoid of the form
i(t) = I cos(ωt − θ )
 Author's personal copy
J Control Autom Electr Syst
Fig. 4 Caracteristic circle of sinusoid of amplitude OC and phase
angle θ.
Fig. 5 Length of the chord O B1 .
as shown in Fig. 4. One can see in the figure a circle of
diameter OC, which corresponds to the amplitude of the
sinusoid and determines an angle θ with the horizontal line.
Steinmetz claimed that the instantaneous values of i(t) could
be obtained from a straight line O B that rotated with angular
velocity ω, by observing the intersection of this line with
the characteristic circle. The point B1 in the figure is one of
these intersections. Steinmetz then proved that the length of
the chord O B1, established by the intersection, was exactly
equal to
OC cos(ωt − θ ) = I cos(ωt − θ ) − i(t).
This can be proved, using the formula of plain geometry for
the length of the chord. Figure 5 illustrates the situation in
which the chord length is:
α numbers is long and interesting.
O B1 = OC sin . number, more specifically −1, is in itself intricate and
2
As the triangle O P B1 is  isosceles,
 α + 2β = 180◦
α ◦ α
→ 2 = 90 = β. Thus, sin 2 = cos β = cos(ωt − θ ).
Fig. 6 Sum of sinusoids as vectors.
A sinusoidal wave i(t) = I cos(ωt − θ ) can be written as
i(t) = I cos(ωt − θ )
= I cos θ cos ωt + I sin θ sin ωt .
The sum of the two sinusoids,
i 1 (t) = O B cos(ωt − θ1 ) e
i 2 (t) = OC cos(ωt − θ2 ) ,
yields (Fig. 6),
i 1 (t) + i 2 (t) = O B (cos θ1 cos ωt + sin θ1 sin ωt)
+OC (cos θ2 cos ωt + sin θ2 sin ωt)
i 1 (t) + i 2 (t) = cos ωt (O B cos θ1 + OC cos θ2 )
+ sin ωt (O B cos θ1 + OC cos θ2 )
i 1 (t) + i 2 (t) = O D cos(ωt − θ ) .
Note that the factor that multiplies cos ωt in the expres-
sion above is the sum of the horizontal projections of the two
diameters of the characteristic circles of the original sinu-
soids, and the factor that appears multiplying the term sin ωt
is the sum of the vertical projections of the two diameters of
the same characteristic circles. That is, the diameter of the
summed sinusoids is the vectorial sum of the two diameters
of the individual sinusoids.
7 Symbolic Method, Complex Numbers, and Vector
Calculus
The story of the vector calculus and its relation to complex
√ The concept of complex
fascinating, having its beginning in Egypt, in the pharaonic
time (Nahin 1998). The vector calculus itself has its history,
equally complex and fascinating (Crowe 1985).
123
 Author's personal copy
Both concepts reached their rigorous mathematic formu-
lation in the 19th century. This formulation can be perhaps
resumed by the works of Augustin-Louis Caichy, on the the-
ory of complex functions (around 1820–1830), and the works
of Josiah Willard Gibbs and Oliver Heaviside, on the vector
calculus (around 1880–1890). Cauchy presented two mem-
oirs before the French Academy of Science: one in 1814,
dealing with definite integrals, published in 1827 (Cauchy
1827). The other in 1825, on indefinite integrals with com-
plex limits, published separately in the same year (Cauchy
1825). For a complete record of the contributions of Cauchy
in the establishment of the theory of complex functions, see
Smithies (1997). Gibbs and Heaviside have developed the
vector calculus almost simultaneously. Gibbs published his
vector theory in form of a handout for use of his students,
in 1881 (Gibbs 1881). Heaviside developed his theory as he
needed it. He published, however, a complete record of his
vector algebra in his work on electromagnetic theory, in three
volumes. Such record appears in the first volume of the col-
lection and takes more than one-third of it (Heaviside 1893a).
Therefore, when Steinmetz formalizes the concept of pha-
sor and articulates it to the concept of vector, he instantly ties
it to the concept of complex number and it is instructive
to follow him in this last link: from vector to the complex
number. He rebuilt, in a sense, the old work of a pioneer,
almost entirely unknown,
√ that initially revealed the geo-
metric significance of −1. This pioneer is Casper Wessel
(1745 † 1818)2 , which curiously was a Norwegian surveyor
and not a professional mathematician. It is not possible to
know if Steinmetz, having almost finished a Ph.D. in mathe-
matics, had known the obscure work of this surveyor, because
there are no references of this in his book.
Steinmetz, after proving that the sum of sinusoids could
be accomplished through the addition of vectors - that he
formalizes thus: sine waves are combined, or resolved by
adding or subtracting, their rectangular components - goes on
and adds, “To distinguish the horizontal and vertical compo-
nents of sine waves, we may mark, for instance, the vertical
component with a distinguishing index, as the letter j, and
thus represent the sine wave by the expression:
I = a + jb
which now has a meaning, that a is the horizontal and b the
vertical component of the sine wave I , and that both compo-
nents are to be combined in a resultant wave of intensity
 Maxwell?3
i = a 2 + b2
and phase θ = arctan ab . ”
It is remarkable that the capital letter I is called wave, but
it is in reality the diameter of the characteristic circle of the
2 For a description about the contribution of Wessel for the complex
analysis, see first chapter of Crowe (1985).
123
J Control Autom Electr Syst
sinusoidal wave, which Steinmetz no longer mentions. Next,
he observes that the sinusoid a + jb is perpendicular to the
sinusoid √−b + ja. He claims, then, that this can only occur
if j = −1 and if the multiplications by this factor mean a
rotation of 90◦ .
Wessel, in the 18th century, followed a similar path, with
less assumptions. Wessel’s reasoning, in terms set by Stein-
metz, assumes that the multiplication by j means a rotation
of 90◦ in a segment positively oriented, from left to right
(b = 0, in the Steinmetz wave). Thus, the segment j · a will
be vertical, oriented upwards. If now one multiplies j · a by
j, there will be a further rotation of 90◦ and the resultant seg-
ment will be negatively oriented, in the opposite direction to
the original segment. The equality
j 2 a = −a
is satisfied, which proves that
√
j = −1 .
Steinmetz, taking this old path, introduces the concept
of complex numbers in circuits analysis and additionally
answers to the perplexities of the practical electricians about
the alternating currents.
Before the presentation of Steinmetz’s paper of 1893, the
chairman of the section said: ‘We are coming more and more
to use these complex quantities instead of using sines and
cosines, and we find great advantage in their use for calculat-
ing all problems of alternating currents, and throughout the
whole range of physics. Anything that is done in this line is
of great advantage to science’. And the future proved him
right.
8 Other Possible Contributions: Fourier and Thomson
A curious historical conjecture concerns to a possible contri-
bution of Fourier to the concept of phasor. After all, Fourier
with his series and transform showed the importance of the
sinusoidal functions in the analysis of complex physical prob-
lems. Currently, by the way, it is usual to present a Fourier
series—in the decomposition of a periodic function—as a
weighted sum of complex exponentials, which resembles the
phasorial notation. Would not have Fourier, therefore, antic-
ipated somehow the concept of phasor, even in relation to
Fourier have exhaustively studied problems of conduction
of heat, having considered solids in one, two or three dimen-
sions. In section II (First example of using the trigonometric
series in heat theory), Chapter III (Propagation of Heat in a
3 A link between the works of Fourier, Laplace, and Heaviside is pre-
sented in Tonidandel and Araújo (2012a).
 Author's personal copy
J Control Autom Electr Syst
Fig. 7 Solid conductor of heat.
Infinite Rectangular Solid), of his master-piece (The Analyt-
ical Theory of Heat) (Fourier 1878), Fourier sought to find
the temperature profile in a solid conductor. He modeled this
problem using the heat differential equation
∂u
= k∇ 2 u ,
∂t
where u ≡ u(x, y, z, t) represents the temperature time
distribution and k represents the so-called diffusivity of the
material.
As he were interested in steady-state heat conduction,
Fourier demonstrated that the temperature u does not depend
on t and, hence ∂u
∂t = 0. Thus, the Heat Equation transformed
in the Laplace Equation, ∇ 2 u = 0.
Excluding the thickness of the solid (see Fig. 7),
Fourier has omitted the term ∂∂zu2 , obtaining the equation
2 (Thomson 1853), is considered pioneering work in the area.
∂ 2u ∂ 2u
+ 2 = 0,
∂x 2 ∂y
forming the boundary value problem subjected to the con-
ditions4 :
|u(x, y)| < M (limited temperature)
u(0, ±l) = 0 ;
π
u(x, ± ) = u(x, ±l) = 0 ;
2
u(0, y) = f (y) ;
where l = π2 . Basically, Fourier considered u(x, y) a peri-
odic function with period 2l = π .
To solve the problem, Fourier established the basic pro-
cedures of the method of separation of variables (Churchill
1963) and of the principle of superposition of solutions, to
consider the general solution as a sum of all particular solu-
tions,
4 Fourier considers also the planes B and C subjected to a constant
temperature (zero).
∞

u(x, y) = cm e−mx cos my
m=2n+1
n=0
= c1 e−x cos y + c3 e−3x cos 3y + . . . .
Applying the initial condition u(0, y) = f (y), Fourier
obtained, finally, his famous trigonometric series, as an infi-
nite sum of cosines:
∞

f (y) = cm cos my
m=1
= c1 cos y + c3 cos 3y + c5 cos 5y + . . . .
Fourier has all along used sinusoidal functions to find
the steady-state solution of heat equations. Nevertheless,
there are not any evidence, so it seems, of any formalization
towards something like the concept that would be, almost a
century later, conceived by Steinmetz.
(1) Fourier’s analogy of considering the heat similar to a fluid
that flows through a body—which originated the mathemat-
ical theory of heat—was also used years later by William
Thomson, his zealous disciple, in his works on electricity,
having widely applied the theory developed by the Gallic
master. It would be licit, then, to conjecture if he have had
the opportunity, as Fourier, to develop, even rudimentarily,
the concept of phasor.
Thomson wrote two important works on electric circuits.
One of them, dealing with the transient in a R LC circuit
The other one, on the propagation of telegraphic signals on
cables, tries to explain how electricity ‘spreads out’ along of
a very long telegraphic submarine cable5 (Thomson 1854),
and became a classic, having been influential for at least three
decades, for all telegraphic calculations. Apparently, Thom-
son did not became interested in the steady-state behavior
of circuits, although he has witnessed the appearance of the
Power Electric Systems, having been a member of the Advi-
sory Board of Niagara Falls Hydroelectric.
9 Conclusion
This paper has sought to rescue a little bit of the history of the
creation of the concept of phasor, following the methods and
procedures of its creator and showing how the advancement
of engineering, in late nineteenth and early twentieth cen-
turies, was linked to the incorporation in the field of highly
sophisticated developments of mathematics and physics of
the day.
5 Analisys which, by the way, anticipates in one decade the discov-
ery of the fundamental equations of electromagnetism, the Maxwell’s
Equations.
123
 Author's personal copy
As one can see, with the historical overview described
above, that the concept of phasor was developed completely
by Steinmetz, with no references to previous works. How-
ever, one can contemplate two great scientists approaching
the concept without, however, conceive it. They approached
the concept trying to solve similar problems, with different
perspectives and goals. The advent of the Power Systems,
and the involvement of Steinmetz with the developments of
the area, certainly served as a stimulus for him to seek for
operational solutions more suitable for the problem of the
steady-state behavior of electric circuits. This kind of con-
cern does not seem to have bothered Maxwell or Heaviside.
As a background for all of this, one can identify the newly
formalized theory of complex variable functions as the foun-
dation that eventually provided the concept of phasor its
full potential. The case of practical application of complex
numbers bears certain irony, because these numbers are not
directly linked to any physical reality; they can not represent
physical quantities as weight, length, speed, etc. They are not
‘real’ numbers; they are ‘imaginary’. That is why Steinmetz
has been called ‘the wizard who has produced electricity from
the square root of minus one’.
References
Berg, E. J. (1929). Heaviside’s operational calculus: as applied to engi-
neering and physics. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Blanchard, J. (1941). The history of electrical resonance. Bell System
Technical Journal, 20(4), 415–433.
Carson, J. (1926). Electric circuit theory and operational calculus. New
York: McGraw-Hill.
Cauchy, A. (1825). Mémoire sur les intégrales définies prises entre des
limites imaginaires. Oeuvres.
Cauchy, A. (1827). Mémoire sur les intégrales définies. Académie
Royale des Sciences, 1(1), 601–799.
Churchill, R. V. (1963). Fourier series and boundary value problems
(2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-hill.
Crowe, M. J. (1985). A history of vector analysis. New York: Dover
Publications.
Feynman, R. P., Leighton, R., & Sands, M. (1963). Lectures on physics,
(Vol. II), Reading: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.
Fourier, J. (1878). The analytical theory of heat. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Gibbs, J. (1881). Elements of vector analysis : arranged for the use of
students in physics. New Heaven: Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor.
Grove, W. (1868). An experiment in magneto-electric induction. Philo-
sophical Magazine, 35, 184–185.
123
View publication stats
J Control Autom Electr Syst
Heaviside, O. (1893a). Electromagnetic theory (Vol. 1). Limited.
London: The Electrician Printing and Publishing Co.
Heaviside, O. (1893b). On operators in physical mathematics. Proceed-
ings of the Royal Society of London, 52, 504–529.
Johnson, D. E., Hilburn, J. L., & Johnson, J. R. (1990). Fundamentos
de Análise de Circuitos Elétricos (4th ed.). Rio de Janeiro: Prentice
Hall do Brasil.
Kerchner, R., & Corcoran, G. (1977). Circuitos de corrente alternada
(3rd ed.). Editora Globo.
Maxwell J. C. (1868). On Mr. Grove’s “Experiment in magneto-electric
induction”, Philosophical Magazine S, The London, Edinburg and
Dublin philosophical society, pp. 389–392. In a letter to Mr. Grove,
F. R. S. √
Nahin, P. J. (1998). An imaginary tale: the story of −1 (1st ed.).
Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Nilsson, J. W., & Riedel, S. A. (2009). Circuitos Elétricos (8th ed.).
Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice-Hall.
Remscheid, E. J. (1977). Recollections of Steinmetz: a visit to the work-
shops of Dr. Charles Proteus Steinmetz. Schenectady: General Elec-
tric Co., Research and Development Center.
Sadiku, M. N. O. (2008). Fundamentos de circuitos elétricos (3rd ed.).
New York: McGraw-Hill.
Smithies, F. (1997). Cauchy and the creation of complex function theory.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Steinmetz, C. P. (1893). Complex quantities and their use in electrical
engineering. Proceedings of the International Electrical Congress,
Conference of the AIEE : American Institute of Electrical Engineers
Proceedings, Chicago (pp. 33–74), Chicago: AIEE.
Steinmetz, C. P. (1897). Theory and calculation of alternating current
phenomena. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Steinmetz, C. P. (1908). Theory and calculation of transient electric
phenomena and oscilations. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Steinmetz, C. P. (1917). Engineering nathematics: A series of lectures
delivered at Union College. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Thomson, W. (1853). On transient electric currents. Philosophical Mag-
azine, 5, 540–553.
Thomson, W. (1854). On the theory of electric telegraph. Proceedings
of Royal Society, 7, 382–399.
Tonidandel, D. A. V., & Araújo, A. E. A. (2012a). Conectando trans-
formadas: Fourier e Laplace, Congresso Brasileiro de Automática,
Campina Grande, PB. 1: 32–36. ISBN 978-85-8001-069-5.
Tonidandel, D. A. V., & e Araújo A. E. A. , (2012b). Transformada de
Laplace: uma obra de engenharia. Revista Brasileira de Ensino de
Física, 34(2), 2601.
Valkenburg, M. V. (1974). Network analysis (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle
River: Prentice-Hall International.
WikimediaCommons. (2012). Category: induction coils. Acessed
July 11, 2012 from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:
Inductioncoils.
Wikipedia. (2012). Induction coil. Acessed July 11, 2012 from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inductioncoil.