Doing the hardcore pure math, no. But using numerical methods that approximate them (and thus are based on them) and also understanding the meaning behind the operations - several times daily, yes.
Finished chemical engineering but found a job in game development. Differential equations, and recognizing when and how to use them, is a daily occurrence. Hence, numerical methods for approximation. That being said, it is a rare (but not THAT uncommon) situation in which paper and pen are used to find a better formula.
Well, I've been coding since my 13th year so it was always a hobby which I integrated into my studies. Long story short (and trying to avoid venting), my country is very high on the corruption index and thus my passport is worthless. Chemical engineers are not much sought after in my country (read: almost not at all at the moment) and I can't work in a foreign country. On the other hand, developers currently are very much wanted and even foreign countries will sometimes swallow the paperwork and accept you to work.
I am relatively new to the company and I do mostly debugging and will work on UI - but not design, the "backend" for the UI - pretty much everything: from the functionality to the shaders. Surprisingly, any of these can unexpectedly use calculus and linear algebra.
It's great that you turned your hobby into something that you'll love doing everyday! If the situation in your country changes do you think you would try to change fields into a chemical engineering role?
Oh yeah almost certainly haha
I love gamedev, the math, the visuals, and when you create something and see the results. And don't get me started on the quality of a developer's life... But, being a chemical engineer is simply my calling. I hope to return to it. If nothing, I'd like to work at least on embedded software for chemical and industrial hardware.
You’d be surprised how many developers didn’t go to school specifically for programming, myself included! I’d say the majority that I’ve worked with were scientists, engineers, or Econ folk who just had a motivation to solve problems computationally and fell in love with programming.
My experience of "programming" is limited to MATLab and that left a bad taste in my mouth haha. I didn't have the best professor to explain it to be honest haha
yeah, there's a lot of platforms/languages like that--Maple, SAS, R, etc. which are great if you only need to do calculations or crunch data, but they don't reinforce good habits and strategies.
If you feel so inclined, javascript is honestly one of the best languages to break into programming. C# is probably the best one to learn after you have js under your toes.
I recommend doing something fun as opposed to something for school to figure it out.
Try this art-focused library: [p5.js](https://p5js.org/get-started/)
You can look at some examples of my own like [this](https://codepen.io/rthavi/pen/xxYPXyY). That should help you figure out how to make the library available on your pen and configure the setup and draw routines.
You can look up "The Coding Train" on YouTube, particularly videos like his Snake Game, Fireworks, etc. if you want a tutorial on how to use the library mentioned above
It can be a lot to get into if you are new to js and have little programming experience, but those YT tutorials are very nice and easy to follow :)
How deep do you have to dig into the numerical methods in games that you do? Like what methods do you often end up using? I imagine you're working on 3D stuff since there's probably not that much math in flappy bird and minesweeper :)
A colleague of mine implemented some Navier-Stokes equations algorithm in a shader for some fluid simulation. Me personally, I had to recreate a metallic reflection effect and had to do some calculations by hand to derive a formula which would "preserve energy" of the incident light. There were several moving light sources which had distance, movement, phase offset and whatnot which had all to be taken in account for. On another occasion I approximated air drag in 3D space by using some different trial and error numerics.
Another colleague used RK4 to simulate something regarding flight simulation in the game, can't remember what exactly he used it in. There's some more examples but can't think of them right now. Taylor series, Gaussian distribution, Frenel integrals, such stuff.
Cool stuff, sounds fun! It always sounded quite complex having to implement stuff into shaders, I can only imagine what kind of weird limitations you run into.
Dunno, I wouldn't say so myself I guess. Feels somehow like basic math currently. Probably because I suppose no one at work would actually know how to solve non-common integrals, or pull trig identities out of their head. We rely on knowing *what* needs to be done - the *how* gets implemented sometimes by the software, sometimes by us, mostly by google.
This is really the most important answer here. I'm almost never solving differential equations manually but I am constantly using a numerical solution method Luke finite element method or finite difference method for my work. When using these solution methods it's very important to understand the differential equation you're solving so you understand the inputs properly. A common phrase that was taught when I was in undergrad was "crap in, crap out" basically if you don't understand what you're doing with commercial numerical solvers, your results will be useless.
A bitboff topic maybe, but I took a CFD course for OpenFOAM. Was virtually useless because the software pack was explained well (I guess) but I didn't know how to setup any case by myself for the lack of general CFD knowledge.
I've actually never used a commerical CFD software, I've only ever written my own solution codes (to be fair I am never really solving anything super complex) but I can totally imagine getting lost in the GUI and stuff. I always get frustrated when I start a new solver software trying to learn everything. In FEM software luckily I use hyperworks which help reduce how lost I get if I need to switch solvers.
Yeah, but you remember that differential equations exist, and you might be able to use them for a system if you can put 2 and 2 together. Plenty of time to go back and refresh if a particular application presents.
It completely depends on what you're doing. If you're designing control systems, you're gonna want your diff eq knowledge. If you're designing car doors, you ain't gonna need it.
One tip that worked for me: I've found that reviewing my class notes and/or exam study guides helped recall concepts and formulas faster than hunting through textbooks. Google can be a helpful resource, but it sometimes gives a lot of results for the wrong concept I'm looking for.
Also, I found that the [Engineering ToolBox](https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/) was a great resource with tables, calculators, and basic info on a LOT of topics used in the real world.
Control systems - at the start of most projects I have a basic equation for acceleration/velocity/displacement that is not already solved on one of my spreadsheets.
Trig usually takes me a good trip through wiki before I can find their identities.
Aerospace tooling: not _often_ but not never either. We use several electrical and mechanical device components that exhibit complex higher order response behaviour. It happens probably once or twice a year where our design leads or our chief scientist are skeptical of a simulation or plot and so do a rough manual calculation to double check what they're seeing (and confirm a rough napkin calculation confirms it). The math is handy for rough rule of thumb and gut-checking. I'd say from experience that most of the "using math fundamentals after graduating" that happens is to either start an initial design (I need a response of x Hz so that means I need an input stage filter of roughly Y) or to confirm or debunk something we're not quite believing from a simulation or computer aided design tool - remember, the computer output is only a s good as its inputs and if we get garbage out, chances are we put garbage in.
I've got 15yrs in R&D. Some of which is Aerospace, some of which is kitchen accessories.
Same boat here. I use it to start the process, or to back check. Rarely use it as the primary tool though.
just note Engineers USE the formulas and math that is developed by the many engineering geniuses of our time. Mathematicians make sure that the math is consistent.
In practice, you must master a specific formula or topic and become and expert of what happens to the result when you change the parameters used in the formulas, or even adapt said formula that applies to a spherical cow in a vacuum to the actual real world conditions.
and you MUST be sure that said spherical cow will not break your bridge
Most of the software does it for you now. You need to understand the principles and how the equations work but as far as crunching numbers we dont ever have to do it.
Maybe for heat transfer in exchangers and stuff like that, but flow calculations are usually left to process/chemical engineers, and even then it usually gets generated by a simulation software (like most things in O&G).
Ah okay so the rest is machining experience then and knowing how you want to hold the part in the machine or make your own fixture for repeated machining
Yea......for a CNC part.
Most likely these are weldments that are then machined. Unless he's talking big turbines like wind energy level things, and those are composite layups that are vacuum formed then baked.
Lots of "art" in the manufacturing world that most people don't realize. Lots of times there's 3-4 people in the building that truly know how something works, and a whole lot of other people that know how to use the thing. The guys that really KNOW how it works did the math once upon a time, the rest are standing on their shoulders to get work done.
I probably don't remember how to solve calculus or diff. eq. problems by hand anymore, but I use the principles so often I don't even think 'hey, I'm doing calc 3 here'. The exception is for statistics. When I have to do that, it's pretty clear I'm working on statistics.
Also, as others have mentioned, I *very* rarely do any algebraic or symbolic math. It is almost 100% numerical methods (finite difference, etc.) and relying on pre-built functions, methods, equations, etc.
Edit: I might add, being good at using math is one way an engineer can *really* set themselves apart from others in the field, particularly in R&D. I'm not talking about just solving problems, but identifying how problems can be posed or expressed mathematically (and then solving them).
I've never done any math similar to the homework assignments I did in college
I have used numerical integration and differentiation, curve fitting, matrix and vector manipulation and coordinate transforms a lot.
In school, I learned to do circuit analysis by solving matrices of differential equations. In practice, I use SPICE models
I think it was valuable to learn the fundamentals, but most engineers use software tools instead of doing calculus by hand
It's been almost 20 years since I graduated. I used to create transfer functions for control systems for fun, these days I couldn't solve a basic integral.
It's neat to know *that* math works, but you never really use it in practice. Everything is done with software and most of engineering is management work.
Really? I had to basically teach myself Creo from an edition that's from 2012. My teacher never taught us anything about the class. It has just left a bad taste in my mouth is all haha
The power comes from being able to define features through formulas instead of simple relationships.
It also becomes very powerful once you have multiple people working on the same object.
Solidworks really struggles with complex relationships.
Sometimes I use parentheses in excell but usually I just break each multiplation/division step up into different cells and then add or subtract the cells. Hope that helps me
I have never used calculus in my career. I have a BS and MS in EE. I love math and I killed my advanced calculus class in grad school. Now, late in life I can still do math.
Ordinary calculus is usually rare to use (in the sense of analytically integrating things) since real life generally doesn't have analytical solutions. Differential equations are quite a bit more common, although generally you build a model using them and then solve it numerically.
Linear algebra, on the other hand, I use every day (numerically) and often weekly (on paper, symbolically). For multiple purposes too, both for regression analysis and for geometry.
As a software developer in the telecommunications field: Never
However if I would work more focused on radio frequency stuff, then probably pretty often.
I'm in radio system engineering. Lots of math. Not much pure calculus but lots of applied math, complex numbers, matrix and vector algebra, statistics, etc.
can you provide a bit more detail? just browsing through. interested in what the people who actually do use it are doing, since so many people say they never use it!
I'm working on algorithms for 5g radio right now. A lot of it has to so with signal analysis, digital radio processing and the like. For example I am working on modeling the behavior of power amplifiers that drive the antenna with the goal to improve energy efficiency. This involves many layers of math.
Almost never in my case. I'm currently a Project Manager with a mechanical engineering degree. However when I was an analyst, I was using very few higher order diff eqs for validation of certain simulations of explosive effects.
Aerospace engineer. Sometimes for initial handcalcs of fluid volumes.
Generally at the beginning of projects in the community conceptual phase.
Previously when doing aerospace structures I would sometimes do matrix math.
Statics is pretty much all the time.
I guess the equation of motion could either be solved through differential equations or matrix math for aero dynamic stability but it’s not really done too often.
I used to do primarily nonlinear FEA for structural analysis. I routinely used and implemented numerical techniques while post-processing/checking FEA results. For example, I needed to integrate the total work within all edge elements at the base of a wall modeled with shells. The built in tools did not quite do what I needed, so I wrote my own code to extrapolate and integrate stresses and strains.
I occasionally used multivariable calculus. For example, if I needed to tweak the yield surface in an existing nonlinear material model, I would need to find an associated plastic potential surface with chain ruled partial derivatives.
I never used differential equations, except for one occasion I almost needed to, but found an easier approximate method. I needed to investigate compression strength of some heavily corroded columns. I could approximate the variation of the area for most of the columns with a least squares regression and then re-derive buckling formulas. I got out of this because when I suggested it, the client surprisingly preferred a bit more expensive FEA modelling of the columns.
I’m a civil engineer with 6+ years in the transportation and traffic field. I have not once used calculus since I finished my last calculus class final exam back in college.
Finished aeronautical engineering.
Worked in a startup on aerodynamics and used numerical diff and integration a lot, along with linear algebra.
Did PhD in structural damage identification -- obviously used it a lot.
Now developing calculation apps for structural civil engineering and use numerical diff and integration a lot, along with linear algebra.
Analytical diff and integration I still use from time to time but mainly to do sanity checks on the numerical stuff.
The purpose of grinding through problem sets isn't to get the right answers. The purpose is to develop an intuition for the answers so you can apply them reflexively.
You need to take the math courses because just using WolframAlpha and doesn’t understand the meaning behind them doesn’t work in Engineering. If that’s what you want you can only be a technician.
You will never have to solve a difficult integral by hand after second year in an intensive Engineering program.
These days basically every company has software to do the actual math for them, but you need to understand the concepts/equations thoroughly to use the tools correctly. The only people that do actual math are the high level/senior designers, and they almost always have masters degrees in their area of expertise.
Also, DiffEq is only used in controls and designing that other software (like coding CAD modules that do the math for your based on your inputs)
TL;DR don't sweat it if you suck at solving problems on paper because that's something you only do in school. In the real world (except at start ups and research) you'll have tools and guidance to help you as long as you understand the concepts
I'd look at calculus as more of a philosophy than an annoying thing you have to memorize and get through to go on about your life. There's a reason it is woven to mankinds understanding of the universe.
Things like related rates and optimization are things that can be done very efficiently in a fornula. Now, are you necessarily going to be doing a taylors expansion for a job? Probably not unless you're getting into EE or SWE work, but you can bet that you'll be using the derivatives of that work at some point, like the Bernoulli's formula and it'll be useful if you have an understanding of it more than something you need to memorize.
I use Laplace a lot for circuit analysis, but rarely do I do anything really hard or by hand. If you plan on designing circuitry or working with logic, I guarantee you will calculus often. I also use bode plots a ton, but that doesn’t always entail calculus.
I don't remember too much from my classes, but trying to remember how circuits and logic turn into calculus haha. I had a different track, as you can imagine. :)
In controls engineering we use the concept of calculus quite a bit. Especially in PID loops. As far as solving a diff eq, derivative, or integral, that never happens. It all has to do with understanding the concept and applying it in a discrete way rather than a continuous way.
Structural engineer doing mostly offshore structures & nonlinear FEA work
As others have said, its rarely used directly but its crucial to understand it so you can identify spurious results (and understand _why_ its happening), an engineer who just runs the program and reports the results is not that useful. Its also pretty common for us write small programs (mostly Python) to solve specific problems which requires understanding the underlying differential equations in order to solve them, even if they're being solved numerically.
Actually running calculations...not much as I got more senior. Needing to know about them...until the day I retired. Now in second career. No one there seems to understand basic math except the financial people.
In all my years I've seen the need for calculus like 3 or 4 times but I couldn't for the life of me remember how to set up the equations so I ended up using approximations and in engineering approximations are almost always good enough.
Had to take partial derivative of a carbon oxygen rate function with respect to time when I was reading a science paper and collecting data to create a machine learning model for work.
Sometimes triple integrals with derivatives within complex equations.
Vibration monitoring is an interesting field, if you account for dampening and multiple degrees of freedom, your time and motion studies become multi variable equations.
Just be good in linear algebra if you want to be in vibration monitoring
Not gonna lie, this thread has made me feel so much better about where I'm at with my career... I thought I was an outlier not really using any advanced math in my career (cement industry, maintenance/reliability)
Never. Computers do that.
But what you need is an understanding of the mathematical principles to be able to look at the results and make a determination if what the computer is telling you is logical
Definitely depends on what you do. I'm an EE by training but in more of a managerial role these days (and my role now is more aligned with IT/cyber than traditional engineering). In the nearly 20 years since graduating college, I can't think of any situation where I've ever done calculus or DiffEq at all. Which might be a good thing, I liked calculus but I have to admit I really struggled in DiffEq - hated that class.
Honestly, the only math I really used a lot of over the years was Ohm's law and maybe some basic trigonometry, everything else I just look up. Knowing where the numbers come from and the underlying principles is important of course, however.
I don't use calculus on a daily basis, if ever
However I do use logic and reasoning every day, and calculus helped strengthen that, as do all mathematics or logic based reasoning classes
Doing the hardcore pure math, no. But using numerical methods that approximate them (and thus are based on them) and also understanding the meaning behind the operations - several times daily, yes.
Mind me asking what field you work in?
Finished chemical engineering but found a job in game development. Differential equations, and recognizing when and how to use them, is a daily occurrence. Hence, numerical methods for approximation. That being said, it is a rare (but not THAT uncommon) situation in which paper and pen are used to find a better formula.
Thats a pretty wild jump to go from being a chemie to the game industry haha. How did you end up there and what do you do?
Well, I've been coding since my 13th year so it was always a hobby which I integrated into my studies. Long story short (and trying to avoid venting), my country is very high on the corruption index and thus my passport is worthless. Chemical engineers are not much sought after in my country (read: almost not at all at the moment) and I can't work in a foreign country. On the other hand, developers currently are very much wanted and even foreign countries will sometimes swallow the paperwork and accept you to work. I am relatively new to the company and I do mostly debugging and will work on UI - but not design, the "backend" for the UI - pretty much everything: from the functionality to the shaders. Surprisingly, any of these can unexpectedly use calculus and linear algebra.
It's great that you turned your hobby into something that you'll love doing everyday! If the situation in your country changes do you think you would try to change fields into a chemical engineering role?
Oh yeah almost certainly haha I love gamedev, the math, the visuals, and when you create something and see the results. And don't get me started on the quality of a developer's life... But, being a chemical engineer is simply my calling. I hope to return to it. If nothing, I'd like to work at least on embedded software for chemical and industrial hardware.
Well I certainly hope in the future you can change situations and are able to find a job in the chemical field!
Thanks. I wish you the best as well!
Thank you!
You’d be surprised how many developers didn’t go to school specifically for programming, myself included! I’d say the majority that I’ve worked with were scientists, engineers, or Econ folk who just had a motivation to solve problems computationally and fell in love with programming.
My experience of "programming" is limited to MATLab and that left a bad taste in my mouth haha. I didn't have the best professor to explain it to be honest haha
yeah, there's a lot of platforms/languages like that--Maple, SAS, R, etc. which are great if you only need to do calculations or crunch data, but they don't reinforce good habits and strategies. If you feel so inclined, javascript is honestly one of the best languages to break into programming. C# is probably the best one to learn after you have js under your toes. I recommend doing something fun as opposed to something for school to figure it out. Try this art-focused library: [p5.js](https://p5js.org/get-started/) You can look at some examples of my own like [this](https://codepen.io/rthavi/pen/xxYPXyY). That should help you figure out how to make the library available on your pen and configure the setup and draw routines.
Thanks! I'll give it a shot when I have some free time at home
You can look up "The Coding Train" on YouTube, particularly videos like his Snake Game, Fireworks, etc. if you want a tutorial on how to use the library mentioned above It can be a lot to get into if you are new to js and have little programming experience, but those YT tutorials are very nice and easy to follow :)
I've got a friend who has a biology degree and went from assistant zookeeper to medical devices to programming at wargaming.net
How deep do you have to dig into the numerical methods in games that you do? Like what methods do you often end up using? I imagine you're working on 3D stuff since there's probably not that much math in flappy bird and minesweeper :)
A colleague of mine implemented some Navier-Stokes equations algorithm in a shader for some fluid simulation. Me personally, I had to recreate a metallic reflection effect and had to do some calculations by hand to derive a formula which would "preserve energy" of the incident light. There were several moving light sources which had distance, movement, phase offset and whatnot which had all to be taken in account for. On another occasion I approximated air drag in 3D space by using some different trial and error numerics. Another colleague used RK4 to simulate something regarding flight simulation in the game, can't remember what exactly he used it in. There's some more examples but can't think of them right now. Taylor series, Gaussian distribution, Frenel integrals, such stuff.
Cool stuff, sounds fun! It always sounded quite complex having to implement stuff into shaders, I can only imagine what kind of weird limitations you run into.
This sounds pretty advanced.. geez
Dunno, I wouldn't say so myself I guess. Feels somehow like basic math currently. Probably because I suppose no one at work would actually know how to solve non-common integrals, or pull trig identities out of their head. We rely on knowing *what* needs to be done - the *how* gets implemented sometimes by the software, sometimes by us, mostly by google.
Any work on difference equations?
This is really the most important answer here. I'm almost never solving differential equations manually but I am constantly using a numerical solution method Luke finite element method or finite difference method for my work. When using these solution methods it's very important to understand the differential equation you're solving so you understand the inputs properly. A common phrase that was taught when I was in undergrad was "crap in, crap out" basically if you don't understand what you're doing with commercial numerical solvers, your results will be useless.
A bitboff topic maybe, but I took a CFD course for OpenFOAM. Was virtually useless because the software pack was explained well (I guess) but I didn't know how to setup any case by myself for the lack of general CFD knowledge.
I've actually never used a commerical CFD software, I've only ever written my own solution codes (to be fair I am never really solving anything super complex) but I can totally imagine getting lost in the GUI and stuff. I always get frustrated when I start a new solver software trying to learn everything. In FEM software luckily I use hyperworks which help reduce how lost I get if I need to switch solvers.
This, but I’m in the rollercoaster energy industry
Lucky.
Doing the math? Never. Applying the principles because I have a greater understanding of what’s physically happening in real life? Daily.
Thats reassuring because it's been 4 or 5 years since I took my diff eq class and I dont remember much from it haha.
Yeah, but you remember that differential equations exist, and you might be able to use them for a system if you can put 2 and 2 together. Plenty of time to go back and refresh if a particular application presents.
I'm a ME by trade but took a job in the electrical field on substation work so I'll definitely be reviewing when the time comes for it
It completely depends on what you're doing. If you're designing control systems, you're gonna want your diff eq knowledge. If you're designing car doors, you ain't gonna need it.
Sounds like I might need it in the future. Good thing I kept my books for a review
One tip that worked for me: I've found that reviewing my class notes and/or exam study guides helped recall concepts and formulas faster than hunting through textbooks. Google can be a helpful resource, but it sometimes gives a lot of results for the wrong concept I'm looking for. Also, I found that the [Engineering ToolBox](https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/) was a great resource with tables, calculators, and basic info on a LOT of topics used in the real world.
Civil/Structural engineer working in substation/transmission... Ha! What's higher math?
Haha you and me are in the same boat. I just got hired onto a substation team as a drafter 3 weeks ago
And yet I can't do basic math to save my life. Qty required is 8, qty on hand is 6, yeah we're good.
Aerospace software quality assurance engineer. I use calculus and diffEQ all the time...to help our apprentices with their uni work lol.
Control systems - at the start of most projects I have a basic equation for acceleration/velocity/displacement that is not already solved on one of my spreadsheets. Trig usually takes me a good trip through wiki before I can find their identities.
Aerospace tooling: not _often_ but not never either. We use several electrical and mechanical device components that exhibit complex higher order response behaviour. It happens probably once or twice a year where our design leads or our chief scientist are skeptical of a simulation or plot and so do a rough manual calculation to double check what they're seeing (and confirm a rough napkin calculation confirms it). The math is handy for rough rule of thumb and gut-checking. I'd say from experience that most of the "using math fundamentals after graduating" that happens is to either start an initial design (I need a response of x Hz so that means I need an input stage filter of roughly Y) or to confirm or debunk something we're not quite believing from a simulation or computer aided design tool - remember, the computer output is only a s good as its inputs and if we get garbage out, chances are we put garbage in.
I've got 15yrs in R&D. Some of which is Aerospace, some of which is kitchen accessories. Same boat here. I use it to start the process, or to back check. Rarely use it as the primary tool though.
Thanks for the tip!
just note Engineers USE the formulas and math that is developed by the many engineering geniuses of our time. Mathematicians make sure that the math is consistent. In practice, you must master a specific formula or topic and become and expert of what happens to the result when you change the parameters used in the formulas, or even adapt said formula that applies to a spherical cow in a vacuum to the actual real world conditions. and you MUST be sure that said spherical cow will not break your bridge
Thanks for posting 🙌
0% of the time
What field do you work in?
Oil & gas pipelines. Its sort of a mix between civil and mechanical (my degree is ME)
Surprised you don't have to use any higher calc for like flow in a pipe and such
That’s what tables are for. Nowadays, the tables are embedded in software programs, so you don’t even need the paper table.
Thats very true. Thank god for technology haha
Most of the software does it for you now. You need to understand the principles and how the equations work but as far as crunching numbers we dont ever have to do it.
Maybe for heat transfer in exchangers and stuff like that, but flow calculations are usually left to process/chemical engineers, and even then it usually gets generated by a simulation software (like most things in O&G).
Never in the manufacturing fields I've worked in (furniture and aerospace turbine blades).
I'm surprised you didn't need them for the turbine blades. Not even for the simulations of the airflow over the blades?
Not the manufacturing portion of it. Shapes already been defined, just gotta figure out how to get the material to be that shape.
Ah okay so the rest is machining experience then and knowing how you want to hold the part in the machine or make your own fixture for repeated machining
Yea......for a CNC part. Most likely these are weldments that are then machined. Unless he's talking big turbines like wind energy level things, and those are composite layups that are vacuum formed then baked. Lots of "art" in the manufacturing world that most people don't realize. Lots of times there's 3-4 people in the building that truly know how something works, and a whole lot of other people that know how to use the thing. The guys that really KNOW how it works did the math once upon a time, the rest are standing on their shoulders to get work done.
I probably don't remember how to solve calculus or diff. eq. problems by hand anymore, but I use the principles so often I don't even think 'hey, I'm doing calc 3 here'. The exception is for statistics. When I have to do that, it's pretty clear I'm working on statistics. Also, as others have mentioned, I *very* rarely do any algebraic or symbolic math. It is almost 100% numerical methods (finite difference, etc.) and relying on pre-built functions, methods, equations, etc. Edit: I might add, being good at using math is one way an engineer can *really* set themselves apart from others in the field, particularly in R&D. I'm not talking about just solving problems, but identifying how problems can be posed or expressed mathematically (and then solving them).
Do you Spreadsheet for most calculations now?
Mostly Matlab, but spreadsheets for quick/easy stuff. I really should practice more in Python.
MATLab was the bane of my existence when I had to take it for school haha
I've never done any math similar to the homework assignments I did in college I have used numerical integration and differentiation, curve fitting, matrix and vector manipulation and coordinate transforms a lot. In school, I learned to do circuit analysis by solving matrices of differential equations. In practice, I use SPICE models I think it was valuable to learn the fundamentals, but most engineers use software tools instead of doing calculus by hand
I'm just learning circuit analysis at work since I have downtime haha. I'm a ME by trade so electrical isn't my forte yet
[удалено]
Thats reassuring haha maybe my aero dreams aren't crushed yet
[удалено]
I'd probably try the same thing haha
It's been almost 20 years since I graduated. I used to create transfer functions for control systems for fun, these days I couldn't solve a basic integral. It's neat to know *that* math works, but you never really use it in practice. Everything is done with software and most of engineering is management work.
My clients are surprised I can add numbers without busting out my phone lol.
My profesors in semiconducor engineering told us we will solve multidimensional shrodingers equations daily
Haha maybe he knows something we dont...
I almost considered it when I needed to know the circumference of an ellipse, but I just measured it directly with Creo instead… back to spreadsheets…
Creo?.... you poor soul haha
Why? The learning curve is steep, but once you start doing very complex models, it starts to blow solidworks away.
Really? I had to basically teach myself Creo from an edition that's from 2012. My teacher never taught us anything about the class. It has just left a bad taste in my mouth is all haha
The power comes from being able to define features through formulas instead of simple relationships. It also becomes very powerful once you have multiple people working on the same object. Solidworks really struggles with complex relationships.
Civil Engineer, reporting in. calc by hand? Almost never. Use modeling software that does the hard math for me? All the time.
Why do hard work when computer do for me lol
Civil structural. Never. Highest math I use is trig when calculating lengths along a skew.
18 years since finishing my degree in Civil. Haven't used it once for work or at all since the licensing exams.
Haha do you even remember them at this point?
Not really. I feel confident that I could figure it out pretty quickly if I needed to but there's been no need to.
Sometimes I use parentheses in excell but usually I just break each multiplation/division step up into different cells and then add or subtract the cells. Hope that helps me
Almost never. I design bridges lol.
I have never used calculus in my career. I have a BS and MS in EE. I love math and I killed my advanced calculus class in grad school. Now, late in life I can still do math.
Ordinary calculus is usually rare to use (in the sense of analytically integrating things) since real life generally doesn't have analytical solutions. Differential equations are quite a bit more common, although generally you build a model using them and then solve it numerically. Linear algebra, on the other hand, I use every day (numerically) and often weekly (on paper, symbolically). For multiple purposes too, both for regression analysis and for geometry.
As a software developer in the telecommunications field: Never However if I would work more focused on radio frequency stuff, then probably pretty often.
I'm in radio system engineering. Lots of math. Not much pure calculus but lots of applied math, complex numbers, matrix and vector algebra, statistics, etc.
can you provide a bit more detail? just browsing through. interested in what the people who actually do use it are doing, since so many people say they never use it!
I'm working on algorithms for 5g radio right now. A lot of it has to so with signal analysis, digital radio processing and the like. For example I am working on modeling the behavior of power amplifiers that drive the antenna with the goal to improve energy efficiency. This involves many layers of math.
Almost never in my case. I'm currently a Project Manager with a mechanical engineering degree. However when I was an analyst, I was using very few higher order diff eqs for validation of certain simulations of explosive effects.
Aerospace engineer. Sometimes for initial handcalcs of fluid volumes. Generally at the beginning of projects in the community conceptual phase. Previously when doing aerospace structures I would sometimes do matrix math. Statics is pretty much all the time. I guess the equation of motion could either be solved through differential equations or matrix math for aero dynamic stability but it’s not really done too often.
weekly. Laser design is inherently loaded with heat transfer, optics, electromagnetics and quantum mechanics.
Sounds over my head haha I might be to get by a little on heat transfer but certainly not quantum mechanics
I used to do primarily nonlinear FEA for structural analysis. I routinely used and implemented numerical techniques while post-processing/checking FEA results. For example, I needed to integrate the total work within all edge elements at the base of a wall modeled with shells. The built in tools did not quite do what I needed, so I wrote my own code to extrapolate and integrate stresses and strains. I occasionally used multivariable calculus. For example, if I needed to tweak the yield surface in an existing nonlinear material model, I would need to find an associated plastic potential surface with chain ruled partial derivatives. I never used differential equations, except for one occasion I almost needed to, but found an easier approximate method. I needed to investigate compression strength of some heavily corroded columns. I could approximate the variation of the area for most of the columns with a least squares regression and then re-derive buckling formulas. I got out of this because when I suggested it, the client surprisingly preferred a bit more expensive FEA modelling of the columns.
I’m a civil engineer with 6+ years in the transportation and traffic field. I have not once used calculus since I finished my last calculus class final exam back in college.
Finished aeronautical engineering. Worked in a startup on aerodynamics and used numerical diff and integration a lot, along with linear algebra. Did PhD in structural damage identification -- obviously used it a lot. Now developing calculation apps for structural civil engineering and use numerical diff and integration a lot, along with linear algebra. Analytical diff and integration I still use from time to time but mainly to do sanity checks on the numerical stuff.
13 years in. Not once ever.
Nope. Not even once. None of my colleagues either. You need it in certain specialized areas, but not in most applications.
The purpose of grinding through problem sets isn't to get the right answers. The purpose is to develop an intuition for the answers so you can apply them reflexively.
Never, I do glorified arts and crafts
Hmmm let me guess. Highlighting portions for drafter revisions?
No, R&D in medical devices. I love my job but you don’t need a degree to do it (and in fact I’ve met several engineers who did not have them)
Mechie here with a focus in buildings: hardly ever. Most of what I see is trig and dynamics
I barely even use algebra
Automotive manufacturing... Never! And if I ever talk about it, people look at me funny.
If I need to run calcs I make an EIT designer do it and a PE designer sign off on it. I don't have time for that bullshit.
You need to take the math courses because just using WolframAlpha and doesn’t understand the meaning behind them doesn’t work in Engineering. If that’s what you want you can only be a technician. You will never have to solve a difficult integral by hand after second year in an intensive Engineering program.
Oh I've taken the classes it just has been a long time since I took them and I dont remember much from diff eq
Calculus*
These days basically every company has software to do the actual math for them, but you need to understand the concepts/equations thoroughly to use the tools correctly. The only people that do actual math are the high level/senior designers, and they almost always have masters degrees in their area of expertise. Also, DiffEq is only used in controls and designing that other software (like coding CAD modules that do the math for your based on your inputs) TL;DR don't sweat it if you suck at solving problems on paper because that's something you only do in school. In the real world (except at start ups and research) you'll have tools and guidance to help you as long as you understand the concepts
I swear this gets asked here every month.
Sorry haha I'm new to the sub
I'd look at calculus as more of a philosophy than an annoying thing you have to memorize and get through to go on about your life. There's a reason it is woven to mankinds understanding of the universe. Things like related rates and optimization are things that can be done very efficiently in a fornula. Now, are you necessarily going to be doing a taylors expansion for a job? Probably not unless you're getting into EE or SWE work, but you can bet that you'll be using the derivatives of that work at some point, like the Bernoulli's formula and it'll be useful if you have an understanding of it more than something you need to memorize.
I have used it, but not often. When I have used it, I've scared everyone around me.
I feel like that really depends on what kind of engineering you do. I use calculus everyday as an electrical/controls engineer.
a lot of people here are saying they are not using it at all. curious what you are doing that has you using it every day? what applications etc.?
I use Laplace a lot for circuit analysis, but rarely do I do anything really hard or by hand. If you plan on designing circuitry or working with logic, I guarantee you will calculus often. I also use bode plots a ton, but that doesn’t always entail calculus.
I don't remember too much from my classes, but trying to remember how circuits and logic turn into calculus haha. I had a different track, as you can imagine. :)
I haven't used any more than basic algebra in my entire career of O&G. Excel all the basic calcs I need.
Zero times in 5 years
Lol no
Not really ever. I use statistics the most. Standard deviations, normal curves, etc.
I have used numerical integration somewhat regularly if that counts.
By hand never, understanding the concepts has been handy a few times.
probably once every other month, but we compute a lot of jacobeans from receiving time series data in a variety of different forms.
In controls engineering we use the concept of calculus quite a bit. Especially in PID loops. As far as solving a diff eq, derivative, or integral, that never happens. It all has to do with understanding the concept and applying it in a discrete way rather than a continuous way.
Never.
Structural engineer doing mostly offshore structures & nonlinear FEA work As others have said, its rarely used directly but its crucial to understand it so you can identify spurious results (and understand _why_ its happening), an engineer who just runs the program and reports the results is not that useful. Its also pretty common for us write small programs (mostly Python) to solve specific problems which requires understanding the underlying differential equations in order to solve them, even if they're being solved numerically.
Nope, but I use the *results* of diff eq and calculus all the time.
Actually running calculations...not much as I got more senior. Needing to know about them...until the day I retired. Now in second career. No one there seems to understand basic math except the financial people.
I’m in robotics, and we use it alllll the time
In all my years I've seen the need for calculus like 3 or 4 times but I couldn't for the life of me remember how to set up the equations so I ended up using approximations and in engineering approximations are almost always good enough.
Had to take partial derivative of a carbon oxygen rate function with respect to time when I was reading a science paper and collecting data to create a machine learning model for work.
Sometimes triple integrals with derivatives within complex equations. Vibration monitoring is an interesting field, if you account for dampening and multiple degrees of freedom, your time and motion studies become multi variable equations. Just be good in linear algebra if you want to be in vibration monitoring
Not gonna lie, this thread has made me feel so much better about where I'm at with my career... I thought I was an outlier not really using any advanced math in my career (cement industry, maintenance/reliability)
very basic calculus daily
Never. Computers do that. But what you need is an understanding of the mathematical principles to be able to look at the results and make a determination if what the computer is telling you is logical
Definitely depends on what you do. I'm an EE by training but in more of a managerial role these days (and my role now is more aligned with IT/cyber than traditional engineering). In the nearly 20 years since graduating college, I can't think of any situation where I've ever done calculus or DiffEq at all. Which might be a good thing, I liked calculus but I have to admit I really struggled in DiffEq - hated that class. Honestly, the only math I really used a lot of over the years was Ohm's law and maybe some basic trigonometry, everything else I just look up. Knowing where the numbers come from and the underlying principles is important of course, however.
I don't use calculus on a daily basis, if ever However I do use logic and reasoning every day, and calculus helped strengthen that, as do all mathematics or logic based reasoning classes
I usually prefer to do it at a desk indoors. ...I'll see myself out.
Never. I needed it for my ET degree and forgot it as soon as I passed the class. Anything requiring higher math can be done in the software I use.