Quote:
Originally Posted by fireant911
Differential equations for me also... My biggest gripe and disappointment in the whole calculus through DE was the absence of applicability. We were working through mere math problems without ever knowing a real world example of the type of problem that the answer would address. I think, at least in my case, that these higher maths would been much more meaningful should an actual case accompanied the formulas.
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Physics was where calculus started to click for me. Using triple integrals to solve a physics problem.
I had one engineering professor tell us that he didn't really understand thermodynamics until he taught it a few times so that made me feel better about it all.
I was fortunate to COOP with an electric utility during school. Between taking thermo 1 and 2, a lazy young engineer at work handed me an old max capacity performance test (real life thermo 2 calculations) and a stack of data we just collected and asked me to do the report. I worked backwards through the old report and figured it out. So I learned thermo 2 before ever taking the class. When I got to thermo 2 the professor was asking me questions! When I got to heat transfer the professor was a retired PhD from the utility I worked at so that was a bonus for me.