Electrical engineering.. math skills? - Yahoo!

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Electrical engineering.. math skills?

Hi, i am planning to do electrical engineering. I love building motherboards, video cards, etc.

i am not good at math or physics.. i am an ok student.. everyone tells me that i will need a lot of math and physics when i get a job .. but how come my cousin says something else.. my cousin got her degree in electrical engineering.. and she has been working for this company for a year now.. she told me that she never used math.. only thing she does is use Autocad to do some PATTERN work.. i mean i dont know what that is but thats what she tells me.. is she lying?? do i have to remember all my trig and calculus after i graduate?? and do i need a degree in design, circuits, if i like to build computer parts?? let me know thanks.... and any suggestions would be appreciate it
2 years ago ( 2010-10-13 04:11:49 +0000 ) Report Abuse

Luck

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker You don't need math for your job hell you won't ever see math or physics since software and calculator does all the math. Weather you need math for your job is irrelevant cause to get a EE degree you must be a math and physics ace or you won't earn your diploma. Your computer building background isn't going to help, since that isn't what they teach in EE/CMPE. Its programing C++ assembly , fourier and laplace for DSP, root locus for controls, and reletivity + quantum phys for communication and wireless transmission, BJT/Mosfet KVL KCL and LC transient response for analog. If you know any of these subject i mentioned than you are better prepared than I was with my silly computer building skills. If you decide to go EE, then make sure your cousin is one of your best friend cause your going to need that life line.
Here is the rundown of real EE/Cmpe If your goal is EE then you should have finished pre calculus and high school physics/chemistry by the time you graduate high school. When you enter 4 year university, you will take a test called ept/elm. Generally people who fail has one year to make up high school math science course. Now assume you haven't taken algebra 2, trig and precalculus, basic physic and chemistry, You have to take them in Junior college. Why, because if you don't finish them in your first year university you get disqualified and kicked out of EE program. From there you take Calculus 1,2,3, linear algebra, differential equation (ode,and Partial), discrete math. Physics 1,2,3 ; chemistry 1, (C++, assembly lang) EE circuits + lab. Every EE class comes with Labs that worth 0 units, but if you fail lab you fail the course. Lab is 3 hour course every week on top of class in matlab, pspice, VHDL/Verilog, (C++ assembly) or circuit building. Basically if you take 4 EE class, it comes with 12 hour of lab per week. Kiss your social life goodbye. Non of these course satisfy you GE requirement except for calc 1 and chemistry 1/physics 1, so you need to take those on top of your EE requirements. Usually EE graduate with 200 units, because these EE prep course don't satisfy GE. Its hard time consuming major that takes a guy with 110 IQ 4.5- 5 year to graduate from. But like medical school it reward you with a great future. Personally, I'll have it no other way, I don't want to graduate with a 4 year degree and find out no body hiring a social James H science major and start working in sale at a local insurance company lol.

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16-Feb-13 9:06 PM

Electrical engineering.. math skills? - Yahoo! Answers

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101012211149AAi6689

2 years ago ( 2010-10-13 06:33:46 +0000 ) Report Abuse

Asker's Rating: awesome, this was really helpful

Other Answers (1)

You do need advanced math to get an Electrical Engineering degree -- trigonometry, calculus, differential equations, etc. You need the math background to understand the theory behind electricity and electronic components. If you don't want to go through all of that, you may want to become an electronics technician, you'll still get to work with electronic components, but instead of designing circuits, you'll be building them and troubleshooting them. You can become an electronics technician with an Associates Degree, so you wouldn't even need to go to school for 4 years. I don't see how your cousin could have gotten an EE degree without advanced math -- perhaps she didn't go to a full four year program? It's true that you may not use advanced math every day in your job, but you still need it to get a good understanding of the theory.
2 years ago ( 2010-10-13 04:20:14 +0000 ) Report Abuse

SFB

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16-Feb-13 9:06 PM