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And now on to the math...

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LektroiD:
Hi all, I've just passed my Electrical Engineering level 5 course, and have been accepted on a 2 year level 7 & 8 Electronic Engineering course, known in the UK at this level as HNC & HND (you may want to look up the equivalent in your country to find out what that equates to). I managed to get through all subjects at level 5, although maths wasn't my strongest subject (we only went as far as Pythagarus and touched on Trigonometry), now I'm going to skip a level and go straight for level 7. I'm fine with everything, but concerned I may struggle with the maths & formulas (my memory is quite poor when it comes to formulas). Any hints or tips to get myself strong in these areas?

I'm aware of Khan Academy, but not sure which areas should I look at. I start in August, so if possible I'd like to do a bit of study over the holidays to get myself up to speed. Any hints or tips are duly welcome.

bob91343:
As with anything else, learning by understanding is far superior to memorization.  You don't need formulas.  If you should need one, you should be able to derive it.

Calculus and advanced algebra aren't difficult; it's just that some of the concepts aren't familiar.

Integration is adding up values.  Differentiation is seeing how values change.  Theory of equations is a lot of fun, as you get to play with interesting graphs.  Exponentiation and logarithms are important but the more familiar you get with them the simpler they seem.

What you can do is get a textbook and, rather than starting at the beginning, go into the book a few chapters and see how much you can get, and if you have a clue to solve the problems.  If not, think about it and make sure you see the definitions of any new functions so you aren't totally lost.  Follow each derivation so that you see how the author got to the result.

NivagSwerdna:
Firstly, Congratulations!  Good job.

You could do nothing and get them to teach you... that actually might be the best way... if you are too curious I would recommend Thomas' Calculus which can be bought Used on Amazon and other places for much less than new especially if you go for an older edition. (e.g. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/0321878965/ref=tmm_hrd_used_olp_0?ie=UTF8&condition=used&qid=1560374286&sr=1-4). I found it useful... but you need to be motivated (and for me it was revision). (You can find dodgy online versions... but for me I need hardcopy of that sort of material).

Vtile:

--- Quote from: bob91343 on June 12, 2019, 09:13:46 pm ---As with anything else, learning by understanding is far superior to memorization.  You don't need formulas.  If you should need one, you should be able to derive it.

--- End quote ---
Unfortunately at my experience the exams are usually build in favor to memorizing vs. derive as they are usually fully booked vs the time available. In the long run the memorizing will loose for the understanding and feedback gained from solving applied problems (even rather simple ones).

PS. All of the fancy mathematics will eventually simplify to series of summations and multiplications.

rstofer:
You should find a lecture series in PreCalculus.  It will be a review of the algebra and trig that you have already taken but, as a guess, in a good deal more depth. Trig identities, all of them, will absolutely be required in Calculus and even more when you get to the Signal Processing course of EE.  Lots of sin() and cos() going on.

Around here, there are 3 math courses required:  Calc I, Calc II and DIfferential Equations.  Don't worry, this isn't the end.  You will probably have a separate course in Laplace Transforms and Fourier Analysis.  You may also have classes in statistics (not likely) and Linear Algebra (more likely but not a given).

Khan Academy has an EE track separate from their main mathematics program.  You might take a look.  Their math series on Laplace Transforms is very good - as is everything else they do.

A for cost subscription to CalcWorkshop.com is highly recommended.  You can do the series on Limits without charge just to see how the program works.  Not everybody wants to pay money for video courses but this one is worth it.  It's free and highly recommended.  It turns out that much of the math you will do will be based on the idea of limits.  Even in non-calculus subjects...

3Blue1Brown videos on YouTube are also very good.

In EE as in all other engineering subjects, math is everything.

And, no, I didn't try to compare the different levels versus out BSEE system.  What I wrote above is typical of BSEE programs.

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