I am in serious trouble in my calc III class and the school is threatening to drop it | Physics Forums
Alright so I register for calc III and took my first two lectures last week in it. I was doing very well in the class and even was told by my teacher I was doing a good job. However I got a email from the department saying I need Linear Algebra before taking calc III. First of all from my understanding you only use determinants in calc III which I already know, also I know how to solve a system of Linear Equation uses Matrices. I have a meeting with the head of the department tomorrow, what should I tell him so that he can understand that I can handle calc III. Btw I did really well in my AP calculus BC class and got a 5 on the exam so my calculus is excellent.
Maybe you can read up on the chapter of differentials and show that you understand all the linear algebra in it...
We are using Calculus Hughes Hallett Gleason Mc Callum which after looking through only uses LA once for computing cross products. Differentials? you mean determinants right?
Oh and that was my plan, I still don't understand the reasoning though, most schools you take calc III then LA first I'm just checking to make sure I am not missing something here.
I would say that the logical thing to do is first take linear algebra and then calculus, but most school do it backwards for some reason (most likely the reason that calculus III is more important than linear algebra...).
I'd say, if you can convince the department head that you're comfortable with determinants, matrices, matrix multiplication and linear functions, then you should be set.
https://www.amazon.com/Calculus-Single-Multivariable-Deborah-Hughes-Hallett/dp/047147245X here is the book. I'm pretty comfortable with those LA topics you listed.
a)Linear algebra (at least for me) was vastly different from anything I had done up until that point and I think that it requires a certain amount of mathematical maturity and most departments feel that when a student passes calc I, he has shown that he has this mathematical maturity. Also, it is nice to understand differentiation before taking Lin.Alg. because it is a great example of a linear transformation, and it is a good example of a nilpotent transformation.
b)Calculus is really the culmination of high school algebra/trig/pre-calc. don't you think? While Linear algebra is somewhat of a fork in the road.
I took the Calc. Sequence and Lin Alg at a community college, but at the university I am at now, things are done more or less in the manner you described. Calc I is a really fast-paced course (covering up to various advanced integration techniques and series) and Calc II is the "rest" of one variable calculus (namely lots of applications of integration, some cook-book ODEs, a "rigorous" proof of FTC) for the first third to half of the course and linear algebra for the remainder of the course. Then Calc. III is pretty much just basic multi-variable stuff. This seems to work well for most students, but it is quite a load.
I would ask your professor about it first, he would know that you are doing well in the course and perhaps recommend that the university waive the pre-req.
This is strange to me. All of the universities down here either allow Linear Algebra to be taken any time after calc I, or require calc II to even take it. You never actually have to take it in order to take calc III though. But I see the logic behind it.
Here is another question: How in the world did you school even let you register for this class? I'm guessing you register on a computer, right?
Idk I just registered and it said the only classes I need was calc II which I had. I bought the books for the classes which came to over a 100$ dollars and now they want me to start over after a week of being in the class.
Just tell them that you know the required LA. In my school they aren't strict about the pre-reqs at all. I'm in Quantum Physics without having taken Modern Physics and Advanced LA without taken a proofs class and no one seems to care.
That might not be an option in his case. At my university I asked to take Calculus I at the same time as Physics I (w/calc), I had a professors recommendation, offered to demonstrate that I already understood the calculus required for the course. The dean wouldn't budge at all. "This course expects you to know calculus before taking it", "I do know it", "Yes but this course requires you to have taken Calculus I prior to"...
Look in the University/School catalog and see what the prereq/coreqs are first for that course. Then check your current syllabus and see if it mentions that Lin Alg is a prereq. or just recommended. If neither is true then you have some good arguments.
Other considerations: understand that prereqs can be waived if demonstrated knowledge of that material. Waiving prereqs is entirely an administrative issue. If your a Math Major Consult your department dean. If not make sure you consult your respective deans office.
Be clear that you are not asking them to waive the prereq so you do not have to take the course later. Yet that you just want to finish your current course. Make sure that he/she or anyone involved understands that you are NOT trying to waive a Graduation requirement/and or course and still wish to take this course next semester.
If dropping this course would advesely affect your financial aid make sure you show that to you advisor/dean as well. This could be a major issue possibly. So check with financial aid before you let them drop anything!
Required but recommended) with Lin Alg and intro to higher math...talk about too many math classes at one time!
Always do the leg work for the chair. Go in having all of his questions answered that you possibly can with as many recommendations and signatures required. They want to see action and determination not someone waiting for them to solve their problem. I know this personally! (which your not doing, your trying to go in informed just posting here).
If all else fails and this will significantly affect your academic career goals and/or graduation year/semester. See if your school has a student affairs appeal/grievance office then use it!
I doubt it very seriously your situation going that far and I would not tell anyone you talk to that you are going to do so, just use it as a last resort if you have no other choice!
Above all be respectful, and if waiting to take the class will not affect your financial aid or your academic goal or graduation date, then my advice is to take into serious consideration of dropping the course. Conditional that when to do they place it as an incomplete and take it during the summer, or make sure they back-date the withdraw date so you do not end up with a "W" on your transcript or can get a full refund. Keep in mind your advisor and the department should have caught this during the first week too, but if you knew this to be the case up front too it's just as much your fault as theirs.
Unfortunately I know most of this by experience. I have had several prereqs waived for courses and been able to register for the impossible. Just remember that prereqs being waived is a complete administrative issue and people who can help you are far more willing to help you if you do the work for them!
Lots of information I know but I have been there done that.Maybe I have just been lucky but I have shaved two years off my expected graduation requirements do to prereq waival, hard work, and lots of foot work.
Wow, I did not know that this was such a big deal at other schools. In my school pre-reqs are just listed as "Class X or Instructor Permission", which I feel makes a lot more sense.
I guess my calc 3 class was quite weak because I dont see why you would need linear algebra. My ODE class didnt even have it as a prereq and I could see tons of LA stuff there.
But I guess its because of all the engineer and physicists who have to take cacl3 and ODE but not linear algebra.
What makes you say that? A number of people, such as GIlbert Strang have expressed the opposite opinion, and at the very least linear algebra is hugely important for numerical analysis and other more computational areas.
I got my meeting at 3PM today, one of the reasons why I want Multi is because I am taking E@M next semester and it would help me in my understandings of Maxwell's equations. Also I want to take Complex Variable next semester which I need Multi for. Also I want to take LA next semester so I'm not trying to get my way out of a required coarse.
It's not so bad (maybe if you've got other courses); mine was Calc 1 > Calc 2 > (Proofs + LA + Abstract + Calc III + Mathematics Programming)
So chalk nowadays is made up of calcium sulfate rather than calcium carbonate. I want to know if there exists any data on spectral lines of calcium sulfate. If not, does combining the spectral lines of calcium sulfur, and oxygen create the spectral lines of the original molecule?
Why does chalk stick to blackboard? The chalk fills in the tiny gaps in whatever board you may be using, but I'm interested in how this solid-solid adhesion works.
I suppose it is due to electrostatic force. When writing on the blackboard, there is charge induced by friction on the chalk powder, thereby sticking to the metallic blackboard.
But this is just a conjecture. Maybe you can (dis)prove it by experiments using a Van de Graaff generator?
Hi, I have a Bachelor's degree in EE and currently have a non-engineering job. I would like to get into engineering again. I would like to know which EE fields are currently in demand? (power generation, robotics, manufacturing, etc)
I think they're all in good demand (at least in my area) but the life lesson I learned is that to get into an engineering job you need to have your daddy/uncle/cousin/friend work at the company that can put in a word for you, or else it's sort of like playing the lottery.
According to bls.gov, none. Unless you are willing to work oversees for cheap cause that's where all of those jobs are going. Sucks cause I really like my Circuits class (well, sucks for a lot of other reasons).
This is not what I'm hearing. According to this report, the unemployment rate for EEs has dropped to 4.6%, and my friends are telling me there are a lot of jobs out there. This report also says software is the best place to be.
If you have a degree in EE, and you haven't found a job doing some kind of engineering work, something is wrong.
Just so you know, the Smart Grid effort has resulted in a bonanza of electrical power engineering jobs world-wide. You should be able to get your feet in at the ground floor and work your way up the ladder for as long as you care to make a career of it.
Thanks Jake. I have a real desire for electrical power engineering and all the publications I've read look very encouraging, however, in the south east it looks like a pretty dormant field. Thanks for reply.
Utility work appears pretty dormant no matter when you look at it. You need to look at the individual utility web sites and read the positions that are open. Many of them have some rather odd names. They don't always hire "Electrical Engineers" out of the blue. Read about what the various professions are called.
I got my internship without even interviewing because my boss said that they had a hard time finding any EE interns and just hired me on the spot. The head of our EE department at school said that US and most countries are in a severe shortage of engineers. He also said that large corporations, including universities are going to be retiring almost half of their engineers in the next decade. Add in the fact the government is throwing lots of money at "green" tech and the smart grid, I don't think EEs are going to have a difficult time finding a job whatsoever.
Also, I on IEEE I read an article that there is going to be a major shortage of Power Engineers. A lot of universities are gearing their programs towards telecommunications, electronics, and computer engineering leaving power by the way side. They are trying to find ways to recruit engineering students into power by offering scholarships and such.
Power is a good one since a lot of the old timers are retiring and universities havent been producing a lot of grads in that field (but the work might be a bit dull).
FPGA design is a nice niche field with some good opportunities (we always have a hard time finding good fpga designers).
Embedded software is a bit broader and seems to have nice, steady prospects (again, hard to find good embedded people, most of them have EE backgrounds, not CS or SW)
If you're talking about working on the actual processes / materials work in fabs, then that is a very niche field for which you need a PhD.
Most companies nowadays are fab free, meaning they design the circuitry and send it off to a place like TSMC to actually get manufactured. Even AMD spun off their fab as GlobalFoundries. Intel is still in that game, and there are a bunch of smaller fabs that don't work on the cutting edge process nodes for chips that don't need that kind of technology. But yes, very limited field so it is something to consider unless that is your one true passion in life.
Perish the thought! The grid is about to go through a major revolution. Remote generation with smaller generation sources and more intelligent load management are running many in the field ragged with effort. The communications and the safety system designs are just some of the many challenges.
Furthermore, motors, generation sources, and plant management systems all require high energy electronics design. This is not just a Grid management exercise but a full sized industrial design issue.
The whole concept of the electrical energy distribution system is about to go through a massive revolution --regardless of what happens to the so-called "Smart Grid" effort.
﻿ Does this concept in Fourier analysis which eliminates Gibbs' phenomenon and also introducing some new concepts, possibly have applications in any areas of physics, like QM or in any applied areas? | PhysicsOverflow
Consider a BV function $f$ with jumps, the Fourier partial integral function (analogous to Fourier partial sum in periodic case) as $\omega\to\infty$ does converge to $f$ pointwise except possibly at jumps. But the total variation of the partial integral function does not converge to the total variation of the function $f$, more over it goes to infinity. (attributed to Gibb's phenomenon). To overcome Gibb's phenomenon, alternate summation methods were suggested, like Cesaro summation but their convergence is very slow especially when $f$ has a jump.
In my approach, I propose a construction of a sequence of functions, just like partial sums, each one denoted as $P^f_{\omega}$ constructed using Fourier spectrum of $f$ only in the interval $(0,\omega)$. The function sequence is intended to converge to $f$ pointwise except at jump points, and not just that, but also overcome Gibb's phenomenon, there by variation of $P^f_{\omega}$ in any given open interval, converging to that of the function $f$ as $\omega\to\infty$.
More interesting part is that the function $P^f_{\omega}$ can possess jump discontinuties. (even when $f$ does not have jumps). I also predict that the convergence is much faster than Cesaro partial sums.
Another interesting part is that in Fourier analysis we try to approximate even functions that jump, with smooth functions. But here we use jumping functions to approximate jumping functions. (This problem could be formulated in Fourier series but I choose to do it for Fourier transform setup).
Maybe in addition to the MO link, you can give a short summary of the concepts you would like to see physics applications for, directly in this PO question too to help the reader?
Low- and high-frequency transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation have no deleterious or teratogenic effects on pregnant mice – Physiospot – Physiotherapy and Physical Therapy in the Spotlight
Low- and high-frequency transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation have no deleterious or teratogenic effects on pregnant mice
This study aimed to evaluate the effects of application of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) at low and high frequencies to the abdomens of Swiss mice throughout pregnancy. Thirty Swiss mice received TENS throughout pregnancy. They were separated into three groups (n=10): placebo, low-frequency TENS (LF group) and high-frequency TENS (HF group). The pregnant mice were weighed on Days 0, 7, 14 and 20 to verify weekly weight gain by two-way analysis of variance. The numbers of fetuses, placentas, implantations, resorptions and major external fetal malformations on Day 20 were analysed using the Kruskal-Wallis test. No significant differences were observed between the placebo and TENS groups (P>0.05).
In this study, the application of low- and high-frequency TENS to the abdomens of pregnant mice did not cause any negative or major teratogenic effects.