Tom Donaly wrote:
Cecil was talking about current, not power. You can't add
power the way you can voltage and current.

That's absolutely correct. When one adds powers, one must
include the interference term which takes care of conservation
of energy. The equation is:

Ptot = P1 + P2 + SQRT(P1*P2)cos(theta)

where theta is the phase angle between V1 (associated with
P1) and V2 (associated with P2). The last term is labeled
the "interference term" and is absolutely necessary when
adding powers. If the interference term is positive, the
interference is constructive. If the interference term is
negative, the interference is destructive.

The best reference on interference and the adding of powers
that I have found is Chapter 9 in "Optics", by Hecht.
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp

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