Re: Quick maths help anyone
 

Chilling...bet you still must be good at it though! So what kind of engineering do you do?

I always thought a civil engineer would be a pretty awesome job, though in a very structurally developed country such as this, doubt there's many job vacancies flying around.

Re: Quick maths help anyone
 

after spending the last 25 years working with theoretical engineers (project types), I am now enjoying working with practising engineers, even though the disciplines include CFD, N&V etc and all very computer intensive, you still need to know the base theory and the maths behind it.

Years ago I was developing specific FE applications, it was an algebra and calculus nightmare and I did additional maths as an option at uni.

But can somebody please tell me a real world application for vector mathematics. (Beyond possibly 3d cad)?

Re: Quick maths help anyone
 

+1, I didn't think algebra was important at school, but it was because we were never shown its application in anyting other than trigonometry (we measured the heights of the school buildings, it was fun!). When I started doing chemistry at uni, particularly physical chemistry, I understood the importance of algebra and I really enjoy it. calculus is also good fun!

I'm currently running a maths class, I have a whole sheet of questions here should anyone want some problems to do for a bit of fun :D They are intended for first-year students, its just rearanging equations, and some simultaneous equations aswell

I had to teach myself a great deal of maths (well, i worked slowly and steadily through a book in my own time) and its not so hard once you recognise the rules. Its often easier to go through each and every step you do if you are unsure, so if you get the wrong answer you can go back and see where it all went wrong. There's no right or wrong method though, so I encourage people to continue using their own method and not adopt someone elses if they don't quite understand what happened.

Slow and steady wins the (algebra) race!

Re: Quick maths help anyone
 

Nah I'm joking, despite us having FEA computer software we're still studying the theory behind it, and how to get the same answers as the computer "longhand" as it were.
Though unlike tim wilky, we get to use a calculator :smt043

Civil engineering, pah :-P


We also did all the fluid mechanics the longhand way, bernoulli and navier-stokes equations. Fun and games.

Re: Quick maths help anyone
 

Well Filters asside .... ;)

Re: Quick maths help anyone
 

Cheeky sod, I am not quite that old. But I was also taught to use a guessing stick and still own a set of log tables.

Re: Quick maths help anyone
 

Thought so ! ;)

Re: Quick maths help anyone
 

man thats fun! A degree that requires problem solving as oppose to simply memory committing..time must fly when you were studying or at work!

Re: Quick maths help anyone
 

Until very recently, the Yellow Pages had this as an entry:

____________________________________
Boring:

See Civil Engineers
____________________________________

'nuff said :lol:

Re: Quick maths help anyone
 

Still doing the degree and it's anything but fun. Interesting though.