<p>I'm thinking of majoring in Electrical Engineering. I'm good at math, but I'm no freakin' genius at it either. I know you have to do lots of math in college, but what about in the real world? How much math does an electrical engineer do on the job?</p>
<p>Like, do they have to sit down and work out lots of complicated calculus problems? Or do they just enter that stuff into a computer.</p>
<p>I had the same question, But then my friend asked a good question:</p>
<p>Why do you think software companies make millions?</p>
<p>Because they do the math for you. :) </p>
<p>But not always, a guy at NASA did 5,000 experiments to create a "catcher" that could catch objects going at 2,000 MPH in space. I am sure no software was designed to calculate the "stuff" he needed to make the right "catcher".</p>
<p>^yeah, but i think your friend overlooked that engineers do the math for the software companies.</p>
<p>I believe a "typical" engineer do more design work. There will be math involved, but you will not need to do crazy math problems (since math and physics PhDs do that already; you don't want to take their jobs too, do you?)</p>
<p>fury, good point. but he is talking about a "typical" engineer.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Like, do they have to sit down and work out lots of complicated calculus problems? Or do they just enter that stuff into a computer.
[/quote]
I used to have the same question. Computers only aide you in analysis. You put in numbers only to give you either an estimate of a wanted variable (to make sure your hypothesis is correct or somewhat correct).</p>
<p>The design work is by yourself. The prototyping is half yourself, and half using the computer to verify that your logic and analysis is correct. It's like the same as a calculator. You have to find out which equation to use, what theory to apply. Then, you punch in numbers to make sure you don't get a desired variable of T=-45000K or l=-3.6km.</p>
<p>Of course, the engineering work in the industry is not as trivial. Much of the analysis is complicated and rely on numerical methods to solve on the computer.</p>