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Math for Engineers


Dave A

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I see by posts on this Klipsch forum many appear to be professional engineering types. I use Solid Edge, Inventor and HSMWorks which are pro level programs but I have no idea how to do the math behind many things since I don't have to. The equivalent of calculators being allowed in schools I guess. Some of us remember the controversy of that time where it was stated that if you could not do the math on paper or a slide rule you really did not understand the process.

 

  There are some math specific programs out there now and here is a free one that may be of interest to some of you.

  SMath Studio - SMath

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23 minutes ago, Dave A said:

The equivalent of calculators being allowed in schools I guess. Some of us remember the controversy of that time where it was stated that if you could not do the math on paper or a slide rule you really did not understand the process.

 

Yeah, the instructors figured that one out very quickly. To quote one of my professors, "Once they allowed calculators in the classroom, we got to put the really interesting problems on the exams."

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Calculator prices plummeted and capability increased my senior year of high school. My dad bought an HP for $150 then eight months later bought me a TI for $30, the TI had one or two more functions. Two classic teacher comments:

1) You won’t have a calculator with you at the store!

2) The Russians will bomb Texas Instruments and no one will remember math. 
 

I was a smart-a$#@ kid. Now after decades as a practicing engineer I realize that high school math teachers in the 1970’s loved arithmetic. Every trig problem required interpolation, which required one or two steps of long division. Engineers just want answers. Correct answers, but answers. 

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As a hydrocarbon auditor for large complex sites, I loved it when the engineers would say to me “ It’s really complex, but believe us the math is right.”  The math was right, the inputs were always wrong, hence the answers were ...

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1 minute ago, MC39693 said:

As a hydrocarbon auditor for large complex sites, I loved it when the engineers would say to me “ It’s really complex, but believe us the math is right.”  The math was right, the inputs were always wrong, hence the answers were ...

Never trust another engineer’s spreadsheet. 

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54 minutes ago, babadono said:

In Calculus class I was the only one in my class that correctly answered a question on an exam of the proof of  lim as x -->0 sinx/x =1. Professor used this as proof that he had taught it:)

 

L'hopital's Rule

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  • 2 weeks later...

Algebra finally made sense to me senior year of college.  Coincidentally, it all clicked in a Logic (philosophy) class, as they were the same process:
1. Start with a dis-organized pile of garbage that doesn't mean anything,
2. Filter it through a set of rules and routines,
3. End with an ORGANIZED pile of garbage that still doesn't mean anything.


Aced Trig, though.  🤸‍♂️

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As a freshman engineering student in 1973 a slide rule class was a freshman requirement. There were functions on a slide rule that a HP 300 could not do.

  But the game changer was the programmable calculator. Load the formulas up into the calculator. Before these you had to memorize the formulas. 

  But the real skill is still understanding the data and plugging inputs into the formula correctly. Especially the conversion of units.

  See you the week after the 4th.

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  • 4 months later...
On 6/14/2021 at 7:02 PM, Dave A said:

I see by posts on this Klipsch forum many appear to be professional engineering types. I use Solid Edge, Inventor and HSMWorks which are pro level programs but I have no idea how to do the math behind many things since I don't have to. The equivalent of calculators being allowed in schools I guess. Some of us remember the controversy of that time where it was stated that if you could not do the math on paper or a slide rule you really did not understand the process.

 

  There are some math specific programs out there now and here is a free one that may be of interest to some of you.

  SMath Studio - SMath

I heard Solid Edge is a good tool👍🏼

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