<p>Is Real Analysis useful for electrical engineering majors? Is Real Analysis pure math? After taking Differential Equations, is it a good idea to take Real Analysis for electrical engineering majors?</p>
<p>It’s a good idea to focus on your last year of high school so you can even get into college.</p>
<p>Okay, you know what? I’m asking a question about real analysis, not about college issues. A ridiculous ‘■■■■■’ like me wouldn’t get accepted to ANY college, right?</p>
<p>My point is that you are a few steps ahead here. At best you won’t likely be able to take something like real analysis until you get at least a year or two into your degree. Meanwhile, you aren’t even in college (or even admitted) yet. Maybe you are a ■■■■■, maybe you aren’t, but if you aren’t then you are simply skipping some steps here. Your previous threads indicate that you really still have some work to do before you are even remotely ready to worry about whether or not to take real analysis.</p>
<p>To answer your question quickly, though: it depends on what branch of EE you choose to pursue and how deep you get into it. In particular, I can’t imagine something like real analysis being useful to you earlier than graduate school, and even then there are likely only a small percentage of EEs who would find any utility in it. Then again, I am not an EE so I may be overlooking something.</p>
<p>Advanced math courses may be generally helpful in giving practice with mathematical thinking and reasoning, although the specific content may or may not necessarily be applicable, depending on the subarea. Advanced EE courses are often heavy with Fourier transforms, differential equations, complex variables, probability, and statistics (though some of these topics may be taught in the EE courses). If you are more into computer engineering and science, algebra-type courses like abstract algebra and number theory may be more applicable.</p>
<p>But will learning real analysis be helpful to invent electronic devices for EE majors?</p>
<p>Real analysis is not commonly taken by EE majors. When I was in grad school I did know a couple of PhD studens who did take real analysis, who were planning on theoretical research areas that involved highly mathematical optimization problems. EEs do a lot more than invent electronic devices. </p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>Speaking as a math/physics major who took the full real analysis sequence, it really is useless for just about all engineering applications. In fact, most theoretical physicists don’t even know it or if they do don’t use it. </p>
<p>For most engineering and physics applications, the standard mathematics sequence up and through PDE’s will suffice. Specialized research won’t require anything more than complex analysis, topology, and some differential geometry. </p>
<p>I’m shocked nobody has mentioned more for complex analysis, especially considering its used so heavily in electricity and magnetism, like the maxwell equations which use the contour integral </p>
<p>you don’t really need real analysis as an EE, you do need complex analysis (which is easier than real analysis believe it or not) </p>
<p>self study math on your free time if you are an EE major, math is a tool and you can never have enough </p>
<p>“But will learning real analysis be helpful to invent electronic devices for EE majors?”</p>
<p>Inventing stuff requires thinking about what the problem really is, not how to solve it. Nobody does real analysis for a US Patent Office application B-) </p>
<p>So if complex analysis is easier than RA, then is complex analysis usually taken before RA?</p>
<p>At some schools, complex analysis lists real analysis as a prerequisite.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>complex analysis and real analysis are parallel to each other but I’d argue real analysis is the more difficult of the two</p>
<p>
At most colleges, EE majors do not have math course requirements at a higher level than Differential Equations and Linear Algebra. Real analysis would be helpful for a few types of EE positions, but many other math courses would be just as likely to be helpful, if not more likely, such as ones that emphasize working with Matlab.</p>
<p>@Data10, your answer is very helpful. Thanks.</p>