Getting E&E prepared!

Rom:

A couple other things came to mind

These are much more of the you'll get to them than the you need them now type of thing but the sooner you learn them the better off you will be. Especially if you are going to a top school.

For Industry, and I assume you intend to work as an engineer some day, b-e are a must. Additionally if you ever expect to do digital circuit design (a) is a must.

I can tell you this from 3 decades of experience in the field. If you showed up as an intern with a solid understanding of b-e you would be golden.

a) boolean logic - you won't need this immediately but when you get into digital circuits this is critical

b) programming skills - I'm 10 years out of date w/regard to programming so I don't know what language to recommend you learn but you'll need to be solid in at least some programming language that allows you to create structures, use pointers, etc. Back in the stone age when I programmed we all used C and I bet if I was to start doing embedded programming again I would still use C. These days I guess you need to know an object oriented language and that's not a bad thing. Used properly OOP can lead to code that is very elegant and easy to extend.

There's a book we used to all have called "Design Patterns". That book should be on your bookshelf and I think there is even a follow on to it now.

c) these days the tools for helping you with algebra and calculus and graphing/graphics are just too good not to use so I would recommend getting facile with whatever software your school has available. Mathematica, Mathcad, Matlab, they should have at least one of those though there are some public domain tools out there now too. Learn one and use it. You'll save yourself enough time to maybe have a social life. (ha! just kidding everyone knows EE's have no social life!)

d) Unix build environment. Eventually for your projects you are going to be doing coding and if your school is anything like the one I went to your coding environment will be some flavor of Unix. You need to learn to use the MAKE program or it's equivalent to let you build software projects.

e) I don't know how serious a school you are going to. Some of the more serious ones give you significantly hard software projects so that you will have to use version control with a team of other students. If you think this applies to you you should have a basic idea of how to use software/document version control.

It might be a very good idea to start working with LateX too.
Learning it has nothing to do with math, but anything mathematical you want to have on paper will require the use of it.
I'm sorry to say that I, similarly to Melody, can't answer the question calculus vs. vector engineering.

For your early engineering and EE classes a few things you'll want to have down cold

a) trigonometry - I assume you'll need to take statics, dynamics, physics I and II, all these will make very heavy use of trig

b) basic linear algebra - You need to know how to manipulate matrices very well. You should be able to quickly find the inverse of a 3x3 matrix using row reduction.

c) if you have any questions about the exponential function get them worked out because it is the key function used in EE. You should understand the exponential of a complex argument as well.

d) speaking of complex numbers you'll need a solid understanding of what they are and how to manipulate them.

e) it goes w/o saying you should be good with basic differentiation and integration.

f) you'll eventually need a solid understanding of sequences and series

g) eventually you'll need a solid understanding of probability but that will come a bit later and may not come at all depending on which area you specialize in.

h) eventually you'll need a solid understanding of basic differential equations and boundary conditions.

this ought to keep you busy for a while

Is that before I start?

I can't always reply. I will be busy.
You nailed it, thanks.

I'd say you will be in a better position than not if you have a-e reasonably under your belt before starting. The others will be taught in time.

Ty

A couple other things came to mind

These are much more of the you'll get to them than the you need them now type of thing but the sooner you learn them the better off you will be. Especially if you are going to a top school.

For Industry, and I assume you intend to work as an engineer some day, b-e are a must. Additionally if you ever expect to do digital circuit design (a) is a must.

I can tell you this from 3 decades of experience in the field. If you showed up as an intern with a solid understanding of b-e you would be golden.

a) boolean logic - you won't need this immediately but when you get into digital circuits this is critical

b) programming skills - I'm 10 years out of date w/regard to programming so I don't know what language to recommend you learn but you'll need to be solid in at least some programming language that allows you to create structures, use pointers, etc. Back in the stone age when I programmed we all used C and I bet if I was to start doing embedded programming again I would still use C. These days I guess you need to know an object oriented language and that's not a bad thing. Used properly OOP can lead to code that is very elegant and easy to extend.

There's a book we used to all have called "Design Patterns". That book should be on your bookshelf and I think there is even a follow on to it now.

c) these days the tools for helping you with algebra and calculus and graphing/graphics are just too good not to use so I would recommend getting facile with whatever software your school has available. Mathematica, Mathcad, Matlab, they should have at least one of those though there are some public domain tools out there now too. Learn one and use it. You'll save yourself enough time to maybe have a social life. (ha! just kidding everyone knows EE's have no social life!)

d) Unix build environment. Eventually for your projects you are going to be doing coding and if your school is anything like the one I went to your coding environment will be some flavor of Unix. You need to learn to use the MAKE program or it's equivalent to let you build software projects.

e) I don't know how serious a school you are going to. Some of the more serious ones give you significantly hard software projects so that you will have to use version control with a team of other students. If you think this applies to you you should have a basic idea of how to use software/document version control.

Not for the top of classes, as you see I'm behind in foundations and was clearly in as a NY12.

Really a great help and supportive. > back to learn maths, moving on to trigonometry lectures @youtube. Also I found an awesome site Mathsportal.org.
Maths portal and this site will become my lifeline.

P.s don't you think there needs to be a sticky in the forum telling people to name the posts better? "then it can be a useful site not only to find info relating to your' field of learning, but attract the people who can answer the specific types of question. It really should happen I think. No time to scour every post, or leave it just to a few to answer, respectively.

What's harder to gain a thorough understanding of while under time constraints: Calculus or Vectors in Engineering?

Stu:

What's harder to gain a thorough understanding of while under time constraints: Calculus or Vectors in Engineering?

Hi Stu,
I don't have a thorough understanding of any of those things. I think I will leave your question for Rom. I answered because I didn't want you to think that I was ignoring you.

It's ok, yeh I guess someone who can will answer in due course. I wouldn't think that Melody. Also, I think I posted now, wouldn't have really checked again till morning, and afternoon tomorrow if it hadn't be answered by then. But it's not an urgent question, just one for the next few weeks to prepare. As well, the forums good like that, answering pretty swiftly. And that is good.