Recipe for Thévenin’s theorem.

According to Thévenin’s theorem, every pair of nodes of a linear circuit behaves as a

series connection of a voltage source VTh and a resistance RTh (or more in general: an
impedance ZTh , this will be treated later).

You can distinguish 4 cases. For any of these 4 cases, VTh and RTh can be found in a
specific way.

Case 1: circuit has independent and dependent sources

VTh can be found as the open circuit voltage.
V
Find the short-circuit current ISC , then RTh = Th .
ISC

Case 2: circuit has independent sources, but no dependent sources

VTh can be found as the open circuit voltage.
Switch off all sources. RTh can be found as the equivalent resistance between the two
considered nodes of the remaining circuit.

Case 3: circuit has dependent sources, but no independent sources

VTh =0.
Connect an auxiliary voltage source VX (for example of 1 volt) between the two
considered nodes and calculate the resulting current I X that flows through it. Then
V
RTh = X .
IX

Case 4: circuit has no dependent sources, and no independent sources

VTh =0.
RTh can be found as the equivalent resistance between the two considered nodes of the
circuit.