Mechanical Engineer or CAD Drafter?

[JeremyH]

Originally Posted by monkeyracer

In practice though, how much of that math do you actually use?

Had I not long ago written excel spreadsheets to perform many of the calculations that I use everyday, I would use them all of the time. Specifically, I use the exponential decay equations on a daily basis....

However, I am not an engineer...

[monkeyracer]

Originally Posted by JeremyH

Had I not long ago written excel spreadsheets to perform many of the calculations that I use everyday, I would use them all of the time. Specifically, I use the exponential decay equations on a daily basis....

However, I am not an engineer...

When I had a TI calculator, a lot of formulas went into it. Once the math teacher found out that I had them in there, I had to use a "dumb" scientific calculator for tests... (I didn't end up needing the TI, but it made the calculation so much quicker.)

I have quite a few excel spreadsheets that I use at my current job, and some that my coworkers have requested because it saves so much time. Just plug the numbers in, it does the work for you.

With the availability to find formulas from google, that's why I ask. Is there certain parts of math or formulas that engineers need to know after school?

[slolx50]

Having worked as a design engineer at a small company (compared to most, in our industry we are the world leader (grain bins)), I can give a little advice. Never be afraid to ask questions. Weather it be asking for help or questioning why something is done a certain way. When I first started the company had been “engineering” the same products for almost 30 years, what they really were doing was copying the completion without really questioning the designs. After about five years we are about 90% through the re-design process of our entire product offering and our sales are actually at a record high in a market perceived to be down. I spend about an hour a day out on the shop floor interacting with the assembly associates, and checking to make sure that there are no major problems. Your interaction with other people will be a key to how much success you have. There are no individual engineers any more, 99% of the work done is done in teams.

So speak up! And don’t be afraid of rejection or failure!

[JeremyH]

Yeah, that calculator was required because of it's vector graphing capabilities. I've never programmed anything into it...in fact, I've never been one to simply memorize forumulas. I have always been someone who needed to figure out how they were derived to be able to use them...so I will simply apply the theory and derive the formula until I learn how to do the problem.

I still take regular exams to maintain my license for work and we are only given a simple calculator (regular polish notation) that performs only basic algebraic and geometric functions. You are not allowed to use any notes, books and certainly not Google to look up any formulas.