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If the part in this question is indeed a dual capacitor, what's it good for? The only thing I can think of is that it would be smaller than two separate capacitors, so space-saving, but then it supposes that you need the two (identical?) values at the same place on the PCB, and a common pin.

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4  
If one capacitor is good, two must be better. – Olin Lathrop Apr 13 '12 at 16:28
2  
Its double the fun <:->. Joke not to be taken seriously – kingchris Apr 13 '12 at 17:12
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Yo dawg, I herd u liek capacitors, so... – AngryEE Apr 13 '12 at 17:59

2 Answers

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Capacitors not only have capacitance but also resistance and inductance.
Sometimes those resistance and inductance are disturbing.

Using two equal capacitors in parallel will double the capacitance but half the unwanted resistance and inductance.

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According to @Jason S, it is so it isn't polarized, saving assembly time to put it in the right way (or also not work if placed the wrong way). That argument is only valid for hand-assembly.

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That's according to the Kemet datasheet on their T396 and T398 capacitors. And they're not dual capacitors, they're just single polarized tantalum capacitors with a third terminal so they have the same function regardless of the direction they are installed. – Jason S Apr 13 '12 at 19:33
@Jason S is right; I removed the statement about them being dual caps. – Brian Carlton Apr 13 '12 at 21:20

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