Maths and engineering

Maths isnt my strongest point but I did fine in my General Engineering HNC a few years ago (we did things like calculus but I managed fine with a bit of coaching from my Dad) however since leaving college I have hardly used any of that maths (most of my work is mechancial design but I help out with some system inegration). I have had to do some airflow and similar calculations but there is my calculator and the formulars are all on the internet (or in my old fluid mechanics textbook!)


I would have said that electrical/electronics engineering involved maths but it depends on what you are doing, the electronics in our kit is again nothing I couldnt do the calcs for with a calculator and a formular of the internet.


I have collegues in software engineering and I know that involves a lot of maths.


My Dad is a structural engineer (civil engineering) and I know he does a lot of calculations around bearings, beam loads, wind loading etc.


If you are interested in how things work and making things you will probably find that if you chose a course where the maths is 'engineering maths' you will get on fine. The maths I did at college made a whole lot more sense and was a lot more interesting than the maths that I did at school and I think that is because it was realated to real engineering problems and I could see the point of it! Whatever you do dont do 'pure maths' if you dont like maths!


Good luck and as the others said, talk to universitys and teachers and get some work experience which will be very valuable as well as seeing what engineering is like in the real working life!

Thank you for all the advice.

In terms of physics and chemistry, these are subjects I don't really struggle in and that interest me. I think that overall Maths is just a subject that I find harder to understand and just need to work more at which I do intend to do. When it comes to specific sections of engineering, I am not completely sure and I am open to many suggestions. I am in the UK but could consider studying abroad. 

You might also want to check out this free online course that started today on FutureLearn: Cracking Mechanics: Further Maths For Engineers

It's supposed to be pitched towards last year at high school students and first year under grads but according to the blurb is very practically based so it will at least give you a flavour of where you might go and why you might go there.

The lead educator is Laura Dickinson at University of Bristol.

One of the great things about FutureLearn is that each video ans article has a social media style coments thread attached so you always have people to talk to and bounce thoughts off.  Another great thing is that it's completely free so if after a week you decide you don't like the course all it has cost you is a few hours.

Thank you very much for the great tips that we have had so far!  I am sure that these will be very helpful for Aphra and anybody else that may have similar questions.


Kind regards,

Jo

Thank you very much for all the advice and I have taken it all into account. I appreciate everyone's help (:


Many thanks,

Aphra

Hi,

One other branch of engineering you may want to consider if you enjoy phyics and chemistry but struggle more with maths is Materials Engineering. Materials Engineers are responsible for selecting appropriate mateirals for different applications, and for testing materials. They need to have a good understanding of physics and chemistry to understand how processing a material affects its structure on a micrscopic level and how this in turn affects its properties on a large scale. Maths tends to be less important (although A-Level maths is still normally required for university courses).

Sarah

Thank you (: