Comment by CamperBob2
8 months ago
Great disassembly job. There's yet another branch of the rabbit hole that Tom almost fell down:
... the multiplier is based on a classic form,
having a translinear core, supported by three
(X, Y, and Z) linearized voltage-to-current
converters, and the load driving output amplifier.
I have no clue how the thing works!
The 'translinear' school of design was founded (or at least popularized) by Barrie Gilbert at Analog Devices (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Translinear_circuit , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrie_Gilbert ). Gilbert was one of the undisputed GOATs in the analog field and a full-fledged Renaissance man in his own right. It's worth reading more about him if/when you have the time and inclination.
Gilbert was a legend of analog design.
Here's a lecture by him on the translinear principle: https://youtu.be/LQNJVtcFrCc
And here's some history of his work at Tektronix (where he discovered the translinear principle): https://vintagetek.org/barrie-gilbert/
That’s for that info! I’ll give that links a good read.