As the voltage across the terminals of a dipole has been defined, the energy 
absorbed or supplied by a dipole in the time interval 
, is equal to the product between the load 
that flows through it and the potential difference 
between its terminals:
As the current that flows through a dipole has been defined, it is equal to:
It thus results that the power 
absorbed or produced by a dipole can be written:
In order to find out if the product 
corresponds to an absorbed or supplied energy, we must take into consideration the chosen reference directions for the current that flows through the element as well as for the voltage across its terminals.
