Is it too late and too difficult for me to succeed? 4

[lkncva]

I have been in the apartment maintenance field since I was 21. Now at 33 I am an area facilities manager for the state of NC. However, I know this is the ceiling. When I was 18-20 I had no idea, therefore screwing up in classes. I get how things work, appliances, hvac, reading schematics etc. But, I know engineering is going to be difficult. I still want to do it, but I worry if the level of studies are out of my league. Plus I still have the core classes to finish. Is it too late and too difficult for me to succeed?

 

[Maui]

I am facing a heat transfer problem right now involving Laplace's equation, a second order PDE. I will be solving this one the old fashioned way using the pen and paper method, since I don't have access to MathCad, or any other equation solution software. I had to solve a related problem for a friend of mine about 10 years ago, so I have a good idea of what the solution will look like. And there's no replacement for intelligent guessing in solving these kinds of mathematical problems.

Your math skills are an essential tool that you will rely on again and again throughout your engineering education. And they can prove valuable during your career, depending upon what you eventually end up doing.

Calculus is just the beginning.

Maui

http://www.EngineeringMetallurgy.com

 

[GregLocock]

There's a slight translation difficulty here, in the UK calculus means differentiation and integration by infinitesimals, whereas I get the impression that in the USA it is more of a course description.

or not, I could be wrong.





Cheers

Greg Locock


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[KENAT]

I think you're right Greg, I get completely confused by what my son is or isn't covering in his various 'course of studies' compared to what I would have expected.

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[hokie66]

Calculus is calculus, wherever you are. Not sure what you mean, Greg and KENAT.

 

[GregLocock]

I get the impression that when an American uni student talks about Calculus, they mean tricky maths stuff not just diff and int by infinitesimals

for instance

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Placement_Calculus

seems to wander around and even off the topic rather more than UK usage.

but

http://www.math.utep.edu/classes/calculus/coursecontent.php

in all its eye glazing detail looks rather more familiar to my eyes


Cheers

Greg Locock


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[Maui]

Greg, I think that there may be a misunderstanding - your first link pertains to high school students that are preparing to tackle the college level material that appears in your second link.

Maui

http://www.EngineeringMetallurgy.com

 

[SomptingGuy]

That second link of Greg's described A level Maths here, possibly with a bit of Further Maths thrown in.

The first new stuff at university was when they threw in partial differentials and the accompanying partial differential equations.

- Steve

 

[hokie66]

There is undoubtedly a wider variation in the US mathematics teaching as regards where high school finishes and university starts...as compared to some other countries, e.g. UK and Australia. But that varies within countries as well.

 

[imagitec]

I heard a story on NPR last week about a 40+ year old hair dresser who successfully went back to school for engineering. Don't let the time horizon stop you - "It will take me four years!" - because in four years, you'd be saying, "I could have been an engineer by now! Well, no sense starting now. It will take me four years!"

As others have noted, one of the most important questions is, does the idea of engineering excite you? The best engineers I've known - my father, a close friend - truly love it.

I never really "got" Calculus til I took an Electromagnetic Waves course long after undergrad. It was partly the application, partly being a more mature student, partly being a better student - understanding rather than memorizing for a test and then forgetting.

Rob
Imagitec: Imagination - Expertise - Execution

 

[imagitec]

The AP in AP Calculus means "Advanced Placement" and refers specifically to an exam that US high school students can take and receive college credit for. It also satisfies the associated college course requirement.

There are AP tests in a variety of subjects. I passed the AP English exam. I could have taken the AP Calculus exam based on my high school coursework, but even if I passed, I knew I'd be better off repeating it in college.

 

[msquared48]

It is never too late to succeed.

Someday, though, it will be too late to start.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

http://mmcengineering.tripod.com

 

[KENAT]

I think Greg's point is that courses often termed 'calculus' in the US contain a bunch of other stuff than what would strictly be considered actual calculus (at least in the UK).

In the UK I just had "Math: Pure & Applied" and "Further Math: Pure & Applied" last couple of years of 'high school' and then '1st year math' and then '2nd year math' at university. 1st year math was pretty much a do over of the math I'd already covered at school though as most students don't take further math at school for them it was probably quite tricky. 2nd year Math lost me pretty quickly;-) (seriously, half the exam was weird complex number problems that didn't look like anything I remembered being covered in the course).

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[Maui]

Why do people from Australia and Europe refer to math in the plural sense, i.e. "maths"? I've never heard that used in the US. It's always "math".

http://www.EngineeringMetallurgy.com

 

[dwallace1971]

http://www.dailywritingtips.com/math-or-maths/

"On the human scale, the laws of Newtonian Physics are non-negotiable"

 

[KENAT]

'Because we speak English.

(or at least I used to)

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[Maui]

The first time I heard someone mention "zed" I had no idea what they meant, until the context suggested that they were referring to the letter "z". When I explained my initial confusion, they simply said, that it was never "z" - the correct term has always been "zed".

England and America are two countries separated by a common language. - George Bernard Shaw

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[patprimmer]

Australia has it's own dialect, but still stuck closer to the version of English spoken by the inventor of it than have the Americans.

I always understood it pretty much as described in the link, along with aluminium/aluminum, hood/bonnet pronunciation of tomato etc

I would not argue which is correct, but I would argue each user is free to choose which version they use and non acceptance of both as correct is somewhat intolerant, narrow minded and bigoted.



Regards
Pat
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[KENAT]

"somewhat intolerant, narrow minded and bigoted", wow you just described me to a T(ee);-)

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[patprimmer]

KENAT

I knew you would fess up. ;-)

Regards
Pat
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[lacajun]

MIketheEngineer nailed it in his first post. So the question you need to ask yourself is where you want to be in 4 years.

I know plenty of engineering graduates who were weak in math and science. There is a place for all levels of ability in the engineering world. The degree will open doors for you, which may take you on an unexpected but interesting and fruitful journey. Don't beat yourself up over what you lack. Assess what you have and move forward with the direction you choose.

Good luck!

Pamela K. Quillin, P.E.
Quillin Engineering, LLC