<p>So I want to go into MechE or ChemE. I want to work for a automotive company or petro, I will keep thinking on it until I have it settled.</p>
<p>But the thing that bothers me is, am I doing something wrong with my math classes?</p>
<p>I took Calc 1 last quarter(spring) and am taking Calc 2 now(summer).</p>
<p>All I got out of Calc 1 was; what a derivative is good for, how to find one, how to apply it to functions(max min, concavity). That is it. I have a feeling that I am doing something wrong because I didn't grasp the theory enough, I don't know I feel as if I will suffer in Engineering courses if I don't know everything about Calc.</p>
<p>Now in Calc 2, so far we have covered integration.(Definite, Indefinite, and Sums).
What I have picked up on thus far is that integrating is the opposite of differentiating. And this gives us the Net Area. Tells us the distance traveled vs rate of change. Also, sums, upper and lower, can give us bounds for functions, upper bounds, lower bounds.</p>
<p>Honestly, that is all I got so far, and I hope that I am on the right track, but I feel like I am doing something wrong.</p>
<p>You’ll get the rest of it out of your later classes. Learning how to do each method is really all calculus teaches you.
If you actually care about the mathematical theory behind it, take a Real Analysis course (or self-learn from a textbook). It’s not necessary for practical work though.</p>
<p>Yeah, you will get into applications of it later, especially if you go MechE and take statics. You will use it to calculate Centroids and Moments of Inertia, then you will need it in dynamics, also you might need it in physics I/II, but barely.</p>
<p>Eh, I remember doing applications like centroids, center of mass, and moments in calculus class, but I guess every teacher does things differently.</p>
<p>Yeah, you cover it, but it is nothing like doing it in an actual statics class and realizing what you are actually doing.</p>
<p>You’ll start seeing connections when you get to statics, dynamics, and maybe a bit of physics. The best thing you can do to see a calculus and mechanics/civil connection would be to take statics and Calc 3 at the same time. Calculus made so much sense when I did that, also because my calc class as really small and we were all engineers, so my prof kindly cut out things only math majors would need :D</p>
<p>It’s the way they explain the concepts in math textbooks, they explain things in “math language”. I was the same way, but once I started taking physics classes I started to understand WHY it would make sense to perform a mathematical process like deriving/integrating. For example, a math textbook will describe dx/dt as “the derivative of x with respect to t”, whereas a physics textbook describes dx/dt as “the change in position with respect to time”, which is a lot easier to grasp since you can now picture it. Mathematical principles will become a lot more intuitive once you start taking classes (other than math) where you have to use them for more applicable situations, for now just focus on HOW to do it, the WHY will come with time and other non-pure math classes.</p>
<p>Applications of calculus will show up in your physics courses (e.g. the relationship between position, velocity, and acceleration in mechanics).</p>
<p>Some non-engineering subjects also have similar concepts. For example, consider the relationship between deficit and debt.</p>
<p>Thanks. I was just a bit worried. I’ll keep, focusing on how to do everything.</p>
<p>I am already seeing applications of diff. eq for physics, and now i see why its so important.</p>