Is there any way to tell if the circuit below is in series or parallel quickly and accurately?
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Yes there is. Basically, you want to look at all of the available paths from A to B. If, while taking a path, you must cross two resistors no matter what, then they are in series. If there are different paths so that you can cross one resistor, get to B, and then another path where you can cross the other resistor and get to B, then they are in parallel.
In this example the 3 ohm and 5 ohm are clearly in series since you must cross both resistors if going from A to B. Then, these two resistors together are in parallel with the 8 ohm resistor. Hope that helps.
answered Sep 10, 2013 at 4:24
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$\begingroup$ okay so if there are two paths to the same terminal, then those 2 become parallel. like here i have a straight path from a to b and another is abc. this make path ab and path abc in parallel. $\endgroup$ Sep 10, 2013 at 4:33
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$\begingroup$ yes thats right sorry for the typo :/ $\endgroup$ Sep 10, 2013 at 11:47