Software vs Electrical Engineering

College Majors Engineering Majors
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<p>Auburn,</p>

<p>Sincere (truly) apologies for offending you. This was a lack of tact on my part. </p>

<p>What I’m trying to say is that in my opinion if someone wants math (those reading this thread) they would be best served with a major/double major in math or an engineering degree (electrical, possibly mechanical). I’m not convinced that a CS major alone has enough math at its core to be comparable to some of the alternatives. Its definitely one of the simplest ways to double major in math though.</p>

<p>When I talked about the “history of math and physics” I meant where they relate as opposed to the philosophies of the subjects…</p>

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<p>I’m just joining this discussion (I always wanted people to argue about the kinds of math needed in CS or ECE :slight_smile: ). </p>

<p>Correct me if I’m wrong:
From what I have gathered from personal accounts (and people on this board) is that CS can be conquered w/o being a math genius. Think about it: there are two different kinds of CS majors: ‘Coders’ and ‘Programmers’. Coders don’t use most of the math they have learned (Will you ever need to do derivatives in cs… I haven’t seen one!). Programmers use SOME math/logic to create new applications.
I’ve seen people start out college in Pre-Calc. (I’ll probably be one of them too!) do fine in CS.</p>

<p>My source of info:
[Computer</a> Engineering Undergraduate Program @ UMBC](<a href=“http://www.csee.umbc.edu/ComputerEngineering/cmpe_ugrad/main/curriculum.shtml]Computer”>Computer Engineering Undergraduate Program @ UMBC)</p>

<p>Notice how a CE major takes most of the main CS courses…
Thus, from what I have gathered from others, CE is also a math intensive major in the APPLIED SENSE. I have relatives who are [ECE</a> graduates](<a href=“http://www.ece.umd.edu/Academic/Under/bsee.html]ECE”>http://www.ece.umd.edu/Academic/Under/bsee.html) and they never learned any Pure math. Nor was there application of advanced math concepts (as seen in M.V. Calculus). Again, correct me if I’m wrong… I’m using the reference web page given above (I’m going to major in CS or CE in that University [my 2nd choice!], so it would be helpful to me if anyone has any thoughts on my ideas on this discussion).</p>

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<p>ABT, you are correct (to a point) about engineers, in practice most of them do not use pure math or develop new mathematics, they plug-and-chug. But you are mistaken if you think engineers don’t <em>learn</em> pure math at the undergraduate level. Many engineers take the same rigorous, proof-based classes that math majors take, especially electrical and computer engineers (I guess it depends on the school). And many working engineers on the cutting edge of R&D (either in the university/RI or for commerce) do math snob brand math.</p>

<p>But, to one degree or another, your attitude and the attitude of people you’ve alluded to smacks of fanboyism, and I mean that in the nicest way. Fanboys hate it when something they like becomes popular, and they must move on to evermore obscure and esoteric areas of their interest. Let me use examples of fanboyism in other areas to illuminate:</p>

<p>Hong Kong action film fanboy: “Man, Jackie Chan is such a sellout these days. And that Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon sucks! I hate hearing about it! I’m going to go watch some ultra-obscure movie that most people in Hong Kong have never heard of.”</p>

<p>Foreign film fanboy: “Amelie, Chocolat, what tools! And it seems like everybody these days has heard of Fellini and Bergman! I need to start watching Gaspard Noe movies, that’s REAL foreign film.”</p>

<p>Video game fanboy: “Everybody thinks Guitar Hero and Wii Fit are great videogames. Bah! Tim Schafer, Warren Spector, and Valve are the only good American developers left.”</p>

<p>Anime fanboy: “I can’t believe people like Akira and Ghost in the Shell. That’s not real anime! Grodus Chronicles, now <em>that’s</em> real anime!”</p>

<p>I could do these forever, they’re so much fun. Some of them are me (video game snob) and some of them I hate. But I think I made my point. Would you tell Newton that he wasn’t a real mathematician?</p>

<p>Again, I mean this all in the nicest way, I’m not flaming.</p>

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<p>to thread:</p>

<p>whatever you do, don’t disrupt auburnmathtutor’s gay little taxonomy of the different academic disciplines</p>

<p>thanks,</p>

<p>silence_kit</p>

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<p>Bump…</p>

<p>Does anyone agree w/ my position (stated above)? I am curious to know whether or not one can get through ECE or CS degree by just studying the math (even if one is weak in that area)?</p>

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<p>armary, you need to rephrase your question, I’m not totally sure what you’re asking.</p>

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<p>I hate you guys and this thread is dead to me. ■■■.</p>

<p>That being said, I acknowledge that the “gay little taxonomy” is pretty artificial, but then again, fanboyism or no, a healthy 25% of the math / mathy-CS majors are snickering about the other engineers at any given time at any given school. Don’t believe me, get a mole or something.</p>

<p>The whole source of this was my pointing out that CS was more abstract (math, logic) compare to other engineering (physics, chemistry, application of applied math). At my school and at most schools I have looked at which distinguish between CS, CE, and EE, there is a spectrum from most abstract mathematically and logically to most concrete physically. That’s all I meant to say originally, and I never meant to imply that one was easier or harder than the other. When people ask for differences between CS and EE, you’ve got to make some generalizations or else you end up saying cute but useless things like “both can study exactly the same things”, “math is used in both”, etc. True, but not very helpful.</p>

<p>Peace out. Isn’t it time to talk about ice cream or something?</p>

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<p>Pure math is math whose application hasn’t been invented yet, that’s all. :-D</p>