Hey. I am rather interested in doing BA electrical engineering at uni after I've finished school, and I was wondering what the course is like in the way of maths. I've only been doing the HSC 2 unit Mathematics course and I would like to know if you think I'll be okay doing electrical engineering at uni. I'm great with Physics; I enjoy it and I'm excellent at it, it's just the maths which I'm not too sure about. So, what do you think?
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Maths in Electrical Engineering (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter brad09
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watatank
=)
If you're very good at 2U (90+) you should be sweet for the maths (ability wise, but you will need to work harder since you don't have the background for a few topics you will encounter).
I would probably suggest doing a bridging course because:
* To gain background knowledge on the maths not only for the maths, but the physics and engineering subjects.
Not to say you wouldn't be able to handle it but they would definitely help.
I would probably suggest doing a bridging course because:
* To gain background knowledge on the maths not only for the maths, but the physics and engineering subjects.
Not to say you wouldn't be able to handle it but they would definitely help.
Last edited:
me121
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to my understanding there is a fair bit of in-depth maths involved in electrical engineering. However if you have done 2U and you are good at maths, then you should be able to learn the maths. (you will need to do a 3u bridging course and you will end up learning the important parts of 4u in first session of uni)
chucknthem
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But physics is basically applied math...brad09 said:
Studentleader
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EMF = L V Bchucknthem said:
Lets see the maths in that, its all plug into calculator crap
OMFG LOGS FOR CHEM!11
watatank
=)
lol.
me121
Premium Member
Its not that simple!Studentleader said:
Studentleader
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While I take acknowledgement of the fact you'd probally beat me at all maths and sciences, I have yet to come across physics questions which cause concer due to advanced maths.me121 said:
The probally hardest thing regarding maths in physics is a bit of energy transfer stuff (long equations) and projectile motion.
Compared to the physics like questions in calculus, which involve interceptions and etc, physics is nothing.
I would come to generalise that maths teaches problem solving processes, such as differentiation, while physics is just get a formula and put in L V B to find EMF.
Alot of whats hard in physcs is concepts, which is why i fail @ motors :S
gman03
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I am in my last year of electrical engineering degree and I can assure you 2U is not enough. You will need bridging course.
Problems in electrical engineering involves a high degree of algebra manipulation. Calculations are tedious but not hard, however, understanding what the maths represent is the most challenging part.
For example, take a look at Maxwell's equations. One of the challenging part is to find the boundary conditions to apply the small formula. Evaluating them will need 2nd year maths but that's doable, but the results are not trivial to understand.
So to summarise, be prepare to spend lots of time understand what equations mean if you want to do a BE in elec.
Problems in electrical engineering involves a high degree of algebra manipulation. Calculations are tedious but not hard, however, understanding what the maths represent is the most challenging part.
For example, take a look at Maxwell's equations. One of the challenging part is to find the boundary conditions to apply the small formula. Evaluating them will need 2nd year maths but that's doable, but the results are not trivial to understand.
So to summarise, be prepare to spend lots of time understand what equations mean if you want to do a BE in elec.
3rd year BE electrical here, i recommend doing the bridging course for 3u.
That being said, i survived first year with only a band 5 in 2u maths and faired a bit better in 2nd year. It was a struggle, but it's doable.
gman03, does 3rd or 4th year seem harder in that degree? I wanna know how much more effort im gonna have to put into this
That being said, i survived first year with only a band 5 in 2u maths and faired a bit better in 2nd year. It was a struggle, but it's doable.
gman03, does 3rd or 4th year seem harder in that degree? I wanna know how much more effort im gonna have to put into this
A High Way Man
all ova da world
i think UNSW ELEC is harder.
I think it's also what you wanna specialise in too. usyd elec engineering can be crock easy if you pick the right subjects...you can technically pass the degree without touching any of the power, control and electromagnetics stuff.
Studentleader
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And your the know i all electrical engineer, oh wait 08?vulgarfraction said:
All i'm saying is that physics wont help as much as 3/4U maths regarding the understanding of shit like complexed numbers and that in electrical engineering.
Back to kitchen k
gman03
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goony said:gman03, does 3rd or 4th year seem harder in that degree? I wanna know how much more effort im gonna have to put into this
Well I am in UNSW so the shit we do is very theorectical... 4th year seems harder because whatever they teaches you in lower year becomes assume knowledge and so you get screwed over left-right-centre.goony said:
But like you said, it depends on the specialisation, and so the "type" of maths you deal with is different. Like if you do electromag you better know how to use a smith chart by heart (to other: it is how people add/divide complex numbers without using calculator).. with power well you better able to calculate reactive power and motor parameters.. with control, you cannot believe how a fraction can mean so many things when you do stability analysis... and in telecom.. hell just do a statistic degree!
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HSC physics, as well as being useless, actually confuses you more . as if knowing the "war" between einstein and planck is going to help you to solve 4 x 4 matrix multiplication with some inverses somewhere. good luck using your essay skills on that!
You will need to work very hard.
The only electrical subject I've done is ELEC1111, which is the first subject. I found it fairly easy but a lot of people seemed to struggle with it. My respect for electrical engineers sky rocketed after doing that course, because even though the stuff I did wasn't too hard (first order transient circuits, basic feedback control with op-amps, power etc) I can imagine it getting much harder, very fast.
The only electrical subject I've done is ELEC1111, which is the first subject. I found it fairly easy but a lot of people seemed to struggle with it. My respect for electrical engineers sky rocketed after doing that course, because even though the stuff I did wasn't too hard (first order transient circuits, basic feedback control with op-amps, power etc) I can imagine it getting much harder, very fast.
Forbidden.
Banned
Just about every Electrical Engineer in my previous Computing tutorial class loves Maths as their favourite HSC subject.
I'm not one of them OK ?
I'm not one of them OK ?