Saturday, December 02, 2006


This quarter, I'm starting to actually feel like an engineer. I'm out of the "intro engineering" classes and into some of the core subjects. For example, just this quarter, I've learned how to:

Extract next-state-logic from state diagrams and Karnaugh maps.
Analyze structures by taking moments around the body-extended.
Find the characteristic equations for first-order linear homogeneous ordinary differential equations in circuits.
Analyze rolling objects using torque, inertia, and angular acceleration/velocity.
Find the curl of a non-conservative vecor field in space using gradients, cross products, and partial derivatives.

Now, I probably won't use most of it in my career, but hey - who wouldn't want to know cool stuff like that?!

In addition, I'm getting more and more interested in the Putnam math challenge. I sat in on the training class for it this quarter and might take the test next year... 6 hours, 12 math problems, 10 points per problem. A score of 1 out of 120 is considered "good" and places the person around the 50th percentile... The test is actually taking place today, as I write this. It just seems like a fun challenge to tackle once I get a few more math classes under my belt...

2 comments:

kris said...

HEY! your back! i must admit its been a long while since i checked your blog. good to see you blogging again;)

Anonymous said...

LOL, you might as well have added: I learned how to speak the language of 50 different species of butterflies....lol...

Seriously I'm proud of you! Your very intelligent....I'm glad you found something you enjoy!! Rock on!!

Btw, I'd still be proud of you even if you don't ever get any points on the Putnam Math Challenge.