I’m a community college student who is taking College Algebra and Triginometry with Analytic Geometry. I’m doing fine in college algebra but am struggling with Trig. Triginometry to me is so much different than algebra and even though college algebra also builds up on what I previously learned I still am more familiar with the material because I’ve had algebra a lot. My teacher also told me that a portion of the material builds up on what I learned in college algebra that I haven’t learned yet even though college algebra isn’t a prerequisite or corerequisite for Triginometry. I’ve had to take several days off since the semester started because of my grandma passing away and a minor illness. I’m really hoping I can turn things around before the semster is over to get atleast a C in this class. I understand that math is an important skill and major part of engineering that it Is wary how I’m gonna do in calculus and other foundational courses for the upper level engineering courses. I’m getting help with this course but since what happened it has been diffuclt to keep up since the course builds up on what I learned day after day rather than just course after course.
If you are familiar with my other threads, I mentioned not doing well in my first semster and first math class that was remedial due to life happening back then too but did better during my second semester.
The kind of engineering I’m interested in is Civil and Environmental. It is my dream to do something science related where I can work on infrastructure or Environmental projects or solve problems related to that. I also have an interest in other STEM fields such as Meteorology, Geology, Biology, Construction Management, and Environmental science. Some people may reccomend something less math intensive than engineering such as engineering Technology but nowhere in my state offers Civil or Environmental Engineering Technology.
I feel like I can get better at Triginometry since what happened is understandable but most people would discourage me. If I can get better at this than I should be able to do fine in Calculus. I understand that this course is remedial for engineering.
If this course doesn’t go well I might retake it during the summer so I can still take Calculus In the Fall. The applied calculus that would count towards other majors of interest only requires college algebra as a prerequisite but I wanna take the regular calculus since it would still count towards those majors too and I’m unsure of what I wanna major in.
One Question I forgot to ask is: is Engineering for me if i like doing lab work and working outdoors? That’s important because not only are skills important for engineering but enjoyment is too. It is also unsure if the upper level classes in the engineering programs involve labwork.
The way to get good at trig (and calculus, and physics) is by doing lots of problems. If the odds are answered in the back of your textbook, do all the odd problems until you reliably get them right.
How far along a student is in math when they enter college and how well they understand math are very highly associated with success in engineering. Most engineering curricula are designed to start in Calc I, but the reality these days is that a significant number of students have already taken some Calc in high school. The biggest hurdle I see for you is that the math is preventing you from starting physics which prevents you from starting the engineering sequence. In effect, you haven’t reached square one yet, in spite of the fact that you are already paying college tuition. That’s completely putting aside the trig aspect. It’s an important tool you’ll need to have command of. With hard work and persistence, anything can be done, but to say you are at a disadvantage would be an understatement.
Doing lots of problems is not necessarily the best way to learn trigonometry (or any other subject). It may help some people but it won’t help everyone. It also can be misused by people who just want to take the cookbook approach to problem solving rather than actually understanding the concepts, such as the relationship between the various angles in a triangle.
I started out in Engineering in college and the math can be brutal. After 1 1/2 years and three semesters of calculus I I had to decide what I really wanted to do in my daily work life. I like working with people and am project oriented, wanted to see results. I switched to Construction Management and went onto Grad school for Land Use and Environmental Planning. Lots of career choices in both majors. Construction Mgt. school combines business, engineering, construction and general requirements. Grad school had choices in Environmental planning, affordable housing, policy, transportation planning with people coming with so many different undergrad degrees! Everyone brings a unique skill set to the game but you have to have the interest to make it worthwhile.
Trig builds and builds and builds and builds. One absence can be a problem; multiple absences can destroy any hope of gaining the foundation you need.
So, yes, you absolutely can still hold on to your hopes of becoming an engineer. This may very well be about other events keeping you from class than your ability to understand the material.
If things continue to go south and I don’t do well on the second test then I might withdrawal and take it in the summer or Fall. This would be my second W so anymore after that may look bad. Hopefully I won’t ever be in a class that I’m unprepared for again.
I choosed to take college algebra and Trig in the same semester to test to see if I can handle a major that requires more than one course each semester that involves Math. However, I know I shouldn’t be in a course that another course I’m taking requires knowledge from. Maybe if I can’t handle taking calculus and one or two science courses in a semester when I do that then maybe that’s when I should change my major.
The way to learn math is to get support from someone who understands the math, and then work problems until you have it.
It takes more time and effort than most subjects. You have to work at it, but most people can learn a lot more math than they think they can, if they have support and take the time and effort to practice.
I will repeat this once again: doing lots and lots of problems is not necessarily an effective way to study or learn math topics. That approach has a tendency to encourage pattern recognition and recipe memorization rather than an actual understanding of the relationships between the objects in question.
I agree with you @boneh3ad. while you may have to do more problems than your homework requires to understand the material and become good at it, doing lots of problems can be just like doing the same problem over and over again. understanding the relationship between algebratic or trigonometric parts and/or identities is in addition to knowing how to do the problem is much more important.
One simple example may be in algebra when doing systems of equations. Knowing what makes the problem appropriate for substitution or elimination and knowing what conditions make the problem no solution or infinitely many solutions are important.
In Trig, understanding the relationship between angles may be the key to becoming better at thinking spatially.
Understanding trig is very important. I didn’t think it would come up much beyond pre Calc but it does. It explains a lot of relationships in engineering quite nicely. You’ll see it in calculus, differential equations. Pretty much everything
My question is fo you actually want to engineer anything?
Sounds dumb, but I work with no less than 20 engineers on any given day, most 17-18 of those are just people managers.
They dont engineer anything. They do project management, lead crews, have a logical brain, but dont do any engineering.
I can think of a bsme and a bsee and you wouldnt even know they went to school for engineering. One make 105k (27) technical manager other makes (88k) facilities resource. Both just delegate and ZERO any engineering.
Would It be better to pass this course with a D or Withdrawl? It seems too tall of an order to expect to pass with my lack of knowledge in Trig and would have to get a 100% on almost everything to even get a 70. I already talked to financial aid office and they said if i withdrawled that I would still have met the completion rate to receive further assistance of financial aid. even if I passed with a D, my foundation would most likely still be weak which would make me struggle with the next class and would want to retake and get atleast a B.
If I withdrawled and got A’s or B’s in my other three classes, my GPA would still be at or above a 3.0.