Abstract: A ballast circuit for a discharge lamp uses simply a capacitor in series with a relatively small inductor the capacitative reactance being between 24 and 55 times the inductive reactance. At these values the third harmonic distortion is unexpectedly low, while the crest factor (ratio of peak to r.m.s. current) is still within acceptance values. Because the inductor is small the efficiency of the circuit is high, and its cost and weight reduced. The capacitance/inductance ratio can be equated to the ratio of the frequency of the tuned circuit to the supply frequency, and on this basis the preferred range is defined by 5 to 71/2 times supply frequency.