How far can you really go in electronics with poor maths?
Discussion
Hi guys.
Im a year and a half into an electronics apprenticeship and i absolutely love it, having learnt a huge amount from a really interesting workload.
The end of my college days (BTEC) is fast approaching and i am starting to thing about where i want to go next.
I love the theory side of electronics and can usually understand the principles behind what i am seeing or being taught, but when it comes to working out the sums, i really suck.
So, at what level of education is it possible to achieve if youre good at the theory but poor at the maths?
Degrees are out of the question? Or not so much?
Thanks
Ben
Im a year and a half into an electronics apprenticeship and i absolutely love it, having learnt a huge amount from a really interesting workload.
The end of my college days (BTEC) is fast approaching and i am starting to thing about where i want to go next.
I love the theory side of electronics and can usually understand the principles behind what i am seeing or being taught, but when it comes to working out the sums, i really suck.
So, at what level of education is it possible to achieve if youre good at the theory but poor at the maths?
Degrees are out of the question? Or not so much?
Thanks
Ben
I started out as an apprentice with just GCSEs and 1 year of A levels. I really, really struggled with the maths - given time I was ok but under pressure (exams etc) I would struggle. Passing my NVQ / BTEC was really hard for me but I did it. A couple of years later I went for an interview for a job (big step up) and they asked me to draw up a simple equation that we would use regularly. The interviewer started to write out the variables and give me the data and my mind just went blank.
I vividly remember. I just said, sorry cant do it and walked out. The next day I was sat in the office doing the exact same calculations.
I also remember a guy in the office using Pythagoras to solve a problem. It was so simple yet the client thought the sun was shining out of his behind! At that time it just did not occur to me how to apply it. I knew the maths, but could not apply it. From that day I tried to think how can I *use* maths, I spent a lot of time doing that. Soon after I was promoted to a senior engineer position which was a miracle as most senior engineers have degrees - many have PhD etc. They are also generally in their 40s. I was 24.
Remember 90% of any job is 10% of the knowledge.
Also remember nothing is for ever - things change. I moved on from that industry and at 27 went into something completely different. From a highly technical blue chip industry to a low tech, manual labour type industry. If you had told me at 24 when I got the promotion I would be doing what I do now I would have said no way. There is more than one way to skin a cat.
I vividly remember. I just said, sorry cant do it and walked out. The next day I was sat in the office doing the exact same calculations.
I also remember a guy in the office using Pythagoras to solve a problem. It was so simple yet the client thought the sun was shining out of his behind! At that time it just did not occur to me how to apply it. I knew the maths, but could not apply it. From that day I tried to think how can I *use* maths, I spent a lot of time doing that. Soon after I was promoted to a senior engineer position which was a miracle as most senior engineers have degrees - many have PhD etc. They are also generally in their 40s. I was 24.
Remember 90% of any job is 10% of the knowledge.
Also remember nothing is for ever - things change. I moved on from that industry and at 27 went into something completely different. From a highly technical blue chip industry to a low tech, manual labour type industry. If you had told me at 24 when I got the promotion I would be doing what I do now I would have said no way. There is more than one way to skin a cat.
I think the answer is probably not far, the maths in my electronics degree was very difficult.
Therefore the question should be 'how can I improve my maths to get along in electronics.'
It is a difficult one to answer but the thing with maths is it is repeatable and logical as long as you follow the rules, therefore it is one of the easier subjects to get better at by simply practice, even if this means doing loads of past exam papers or working though an exercise book.
Another tip, which is in line with the post above this, is to think about how you can use maths in everyday situations, start doing it even where it is not necessary, e.g. see a sign offering 15% off work out what 15% of that item is, not difficult maths but keeps the maths part of your brain working.
Ben
Therefore the question should be 'how can I improve my maths to get along in electronics.'
It is a difficult one to answer but the thing with maths is it is repeatable and logical as long as you follow the rules, therefore it is one of the easier subjects to get better at by simply practice, even if this means doing loads of past exam papers or working though an exercise book.
Another tip, which is in line with the post above this, is to think about how you can use maths in everyday situations, start doing it even where it is not necessary, e.g. see a sign offering 15% off work out what 15% of that item is, not difficult maths but keeps the maths part of your brain working.
Ben
As has been said an Electrical and Electronic Engineering degree is very maths heavy, I know as I've got one and I did struggle.
Thing is a lot of the maths done at degree level is to show why things work the way they do, in parts of the industry this is less important as so long as you can design circuitry and understand the interactions between components, the theory behind why a component works isn't quite so important.
That said I started life as a digital hardware engineer, then did some digital signal processing (DSP) and now I design / write software for embedded microprocessors. I still need the maths but none of it at a level that I covered during my degree. Certain branches are quite mathematical though, designing RF circuitry is quite complex but there is quite a bit of simulation software to help. Also whilst I did some signal processing this was very much implementation, we have a fairly autistic chap who does all the algorithm and simulation work and he is obviously very skilled at maths. Implementing things like filters, FFTs, etc. is quite easy to do in DSP software, it's why you want to use these processes that's the complicated bit.
As other have also said if you really want this as a career then maths really isn't that complex once you get to grips with it. My A level teacher was quite good in this respect as he'd explain technique to us and then provide several hundred examples for us to solve for homework, was painful at the time but it certainly helped it sink in. Unfortunately at degree level the maths tuition was not so good, things would be explained in lectures but then it was up to you to go and figure it out / understand afterwards. Sometimes it did click but a lot of the time it didn't.
Thing is a lot of the maths done at degree level is to show why things work the way they do, in parts of the industry this is less important as so long as you can design circuitry and understand the interactions between components, the theory behind why a component works isn't quite so important.
That said I started life as a digital hardware engineer, then did some digital signal processing (DSP) and now I design / write software for embedded microprocessors. I still need the maths but none of it at a level that I covered during my degree. Certain branches are quite mathematical though, designing RF circuitry is quite complex but there is quite a bit of simulation software to help. Also whilst I did some signal processing this was very much implementation, we have a fairly autistic chap who does all the algorithm and simulation work and he is obviously very skilled at maths. Implementing things like filters, FFTs, etc. is quite easy to do in DSP software, it's why you want to use these processes that's the complicated bit.
As other have also said if you really want this as a career then maths really isn't that complex once you get to grips with it. My A level teacher was quite good in this respect as he'd explain technique to us and then provide several hundred examples for us to solve for homework, was painful at the time but it certainly helped it sink in. Unfortunately at degree level the maths tuition was not so good, things would be explained in lectures but then it was up to you to go and figure it out / understand afterwards. Sometimes it did click but a lot of the time it didn't.
It's not simple though, that's the problem ;o)
I've got an electronics Degree after doing an HND in electronics, the degree was a step up in difficulty, I'm a practical sort and most of the stuff at HND level was applied maths for specific purposes, when you get to the degree you're going to be expected to do a certain amount of maths just for the purpose of learning the maths with little or no immediate application to the other engineering stuff you're learning, but it's not impossible to do.
Have you started any AC theory stuff yet? If you can get through that and can get a really good grasp of basic calculus you should be okay with some hard work.
I've got an electronics Degree after doing an HND in electronics, the degree was a step up in difficulty, I'm a practical sort and most of the stuff at HND level was applied maths for specific purposes, when you get to the degree you're going to be expected to do a certain amount of maths just for the purpose of learning the maths with little or no immediate application to the other engineering stuff you're learning, but it's not impossible to do.
Have you started any AC theory stuff yet? If you can get through that and can get a really good grasp of basic calculus you should be okay with some hard work.
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