How much od my calc clases will I actauly use on the job?

In article , snipped-for-privacy@privacy.net says...>

That depends on the definition of "used" used. Last time I integrated by parts? In college. Last time I had to really understand the fundamentals? A few minutes back.

My guess, from your post, is that you will not be able to use it at all.

Bill

I use undergraduate calculus at least once a week, and in the last year I've spend probably 2 months doing maths.

Cheers,

Phil Hobbs

How so?

Can you explain?

Well, I do EE as a hobby, and here's one I had to work out which required dredging up my calculus...

I was designing a circuit to allow a 120V heater load (electric pan) to be run from 240V mains. In order to limit the peak voltage and current in the heater, I generate 120V RMS by switching off the supply during the central portions of the positive and negative going peaks of the sine wave form.

Work out what the phase angle (ø) is for the first switch-off. Switch on is 180°-ø, and second switch off and on are these values plus 180°, i.e. it's symetrical.

Our local Professional Engineer Society chapter is running a math counts contest

peace dawg

Hi guys,

I'm working as a 2.5 year EE grad in a design consultancy firm in Australia. In all honestly, i truly believe it is based upon the industry and type of work you do. The "hardcore" maths is not generally done by EE's in the field (i.e in site roles/commissioning) however, office based design engineers would certainly use the calculator a little more (or at least excel!).

In my experience, we need only to remember the fundamentals and concepts. No one is going to ask you to prove or work through all the maths, but only use the answer and apply the fundamentals where necessary. Design consultants are limited by project schedule and tight deadlines. Companies do not want to pay for an EE to spend 10 hours of maths, to achieve 1% further accuracy! These are the constraints of the real world! An easier calculation with a few more assumptions is much faster and will always bring you into the safe side. The "hardcore" maths may be used by R+D engineers or those in the academic world.

Hope this helps,

Matt. BEng (Hons), MEngSc, GradIEAUST.