Looking for math Refresher
2

Question

Looking for math Refresher

FastestSnail (Student)

(OP)

19 Nov 22 20:31

Hello all. I am about to enroll in classes to start an mechanical engineering degree. Currently I have most of an economics and accounting degree. I am not anticipating many credits to transfer so I'll basically be starting from scratch again. I am aware a majority of the engineering career field requires extensive math and physics which I am excited about. The problem is I haven't even thought about any kind of math beyond basic geometry in a very long time. I took a calculus class my junior year of high school back in 2007 so I am searching for advise on a math refresher course to get back up to speed before classes start in January. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

3DDave (Aerospace) · Answer 1 · 2022-11-19 21:34:39

Sign up for the free Khan Academy https://www.khanacademy.org/ It has short videos on the topics and short quizzes. To move to the next installment one needs a 100% score on the short quiz. If you understand the material 100% is an easy score and since the installment is short the window at figuring out any problems is narrowed. It might be a good idea to start a bit earlier in the sequence than you think is required - I went through some and found that while I generally knew what was going on the skills of making evaluations for the quizzes was rusty. Getting an answer wrong because of hasty mental addition is annoying.

I'd also look to YouTube for 3Blue1Brown - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYO_jab_esuFRV4b1...

The guy who runs it loves math and provides good graphical demonstrations of what mathematics represents.

Also on YouTube, BlackpenRedPen https://www.youtube.com/c/blackpenredpen/videos is a college calculus instructor who is very good at teaching - working through individual problems. A bit less fun but with explanations and applications of solution techniques.

I watch for the YouTube channels for entertainment - they are that approachable.

dik (Structural) · Answer 2 · 2022-11-19 21:47:37

Khan Academy is excellent and donations are welcome...

-----*****-----
So strange to see the singularity approaching while the entire planet is rapidly turning into a hellscape. -John Coates

-Dik

FastestSnail (Student) · Answer 3 · 2022-11-20 00:23:55

Thank you Dave exactly what I was looking for!

Celt83 (Structural) · Answer 4 · 2022-11-20 00:45:14

Professor Leonard on youtube is another good source for trig through ordinary differential equations, Link

drawoh (Mechanical) · Answer 5 · 2022-11-21 17:19:12

FastestSnail,

If math courses are offered as part of the mechanical engineering course, take them.

I stopped out for a few years and when I returned to college, I was told I had the math courses. I skipped the advanced calculus, but I decided to take differential equations again. I never worked so hard to get a D.

--
JHG

jari001 (Chemical) · Answer 6 · 2022-11-21 20:01:32

Another good source for notes and practice problems for Calc I through III and intro to Diff Eqs -
https://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/classes/calci/calc...

271828 (Structural) · Answer 7 · 2022-11-22 16:16:19

I went back to grad school after being out of school for a long time. I was in pretty bad shape when it came to any math above the easiest derivates and integrals. I survived because of the following book.

https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Advanced+Engineering+M...

271828 (Structural) · Answer 8 · 2022-11-22 16:43:51

Quote (Celt83)
Professor Leonard on youtube is another good source for trig through ordinary differential equations, Link

Wow, that guy has a LOT of videos!

Hisham Maalik (Student) · Answer 9 · 2022-11-28 15:51:12

one piece of advice I can give is don’t spend too much effort on developing your skill in the symbolic evaluation of integrals, or even differentials.

Its not a useful skill for engineers. Everyone will use a computational solver anyway.

3DDave (Aerospace) · Answer 10 · 2022-11-28 17:31:05

He's about to take classes where he will be expected to have those skills.

271828 (Structural) · Answer 11 · 2022-11-28 18:27:12

I think symbolic work is useful.

In school, there are a lot of common equations that are derived using ODEs. An example is an SDOF spring-mass-damper system with sinusoidal load. Not being able to follow the derivation would be problematic on exams.

In practice, it would be nice if the engineer has a handle on the background derivation and not just be able to use the final equation.

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Looking for math Refresher
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