On Thu, 21 Jan 2016 13:40:25 -0800, trader_4 wrote:

Did anyone ever suggest that you needed either of those to debug
your very basic home circuit? Ohm's law, an understanding of basic
electrical principles is all you need. I was doing that when I was 10.

Exactly.
You learned it wholly *outside* of the college EE environment.

Clearly I know ohms law.
Clearly I had a short.

Just as clearly, that short existed even with the light switch to the
five-bulb light turned off (I had forgotten to mention that).

So, clearly I had a short *somewhere*.
(Or, as people told me, maybe the breaker went bad.)

Even so, Ohms law wasn't my problem.
I've done far more complex math (trust me on that).

The problem was merely one of pragmatics.
And experience.
And knowledge of home wiring.
And tricks of the trade.