Hi,

I'm currnetly working in electrical installation/maintenance and am due to start a HNC in electrical/electronic engineering in September. Having not come from an academic background nor having completed the ONC I'm a little concerned that my maths maybe found wanting. I spoke to the admissions tutor who seemed to think that as long as I understood the fundamentals of quadratic equations and their use with complex numbers I should be ok. I'd be most interested to hear from anyone who has completed the course on how to best prepare for the start of term. I've invested in two very good general HNC engineering science/maths books which on first sight appear a little daunting although I suppose if I understood these books now there would be little point in doing the course. Any comments would be appreciated

Regards

Blaise.

 

Hi Blaise,

I did the HNC Electrical Engineering prior to commencing my Degree and subsequent Masters. The main areas you be required to be familiarised with in Maths are:

Algebraic Methods - of which you will be mostly familiar (Learn the Laws of Indices)

Series - Basic ideas of Arithmetric and Geometric series (Avoid this at degree level!!)

Trigonometric Methods - Pretty self explainatory, but do learn the trigonometric identities as these will paly a key role in this topic.

Calculus - ahhh the bane of anybody learning Mathemetics! Differentiation and Integration for basic single variable functions using the common rules, i.e. Product, Quotient, Parts, Function of a function etc. This topic takes up a lot of the course and is key to your understanding of more complex engineering problems.

The following is the topics from the syllabus I studied:
-Formulae
-Area, Volume, Mass
-Linear Graphs/Simultaneous equations
-Trigonometry
-Statistics
-Trigonometry, logarithms and exponentials
-Quadratic equations
-Graphs of quadratics and other polynomials
-Number Systems
-Differentiation
-Complex Numbers
-Integration
-Vectors

You won't be required to prove anything from first principles (at least I didn't!), just be able to apply the techniques correctly. Do understand that your course could differ considerably fom the course I studied. Just remember the key to Mathematics is practice, and the more you practice, the better you get.

If you have any other questions about the course or need help with you Maths post back and I'm sure you be able to get help on these forums, in the Homework Help forum there is a dedicated Mathematics section.

 

Hi,

Go to www.logis-tech.co.uk and on the main page scroll down to "Links" to useful relevant Engineering/IT web sites. Very good info on maths and all types of engineering to prepare you for your HNC in Engineering course. Well worth a look !!!

Hugo

Originally posted by Blaise@Jun 26 2004, 09:17 AM
Hi,

I'm currnetly working in electrical installation/maintenance and am due to start a HNC in electrical/electronic engineering in September. Having not come from an academic background nor having completed the ONC I'm a little concerned that my maths maybe found wanting. I spoke to the admissions tutor who seemed to think that as long as I understood the fundamentals of quadratic equations and their use with complex numbers I should be ok. I'd be most interested to hear from anyone who has completed the course on how to best prepare for the start of term. I've invested in two very good general HNC engineering science/maths books which on first sight appear a little daunting although I suppose if I understood these books now there would be little point in doing the course. Any comments would be appreciated

Regards

Blaise.

[post=1822]Quoted post[/post]​

 

hi
i just passed my HNC and we all student found the first year easy i mean not really easy but was ok but the second year was much more harder and not in the same level we had some Beng engineering student in our class and taking the same exam for the same modules . but the modules and teaching is different from every universities but if you study hard you will be ok
i wasn't a rally good student but i studied hard for the exam . you will be allright just go on .. by the way i am an international student and my english cannot be the same as yours

i studied in huddersfield university

you can contact me if you have any questions
ernesto_sharp@yahoo.com

 

If the math looks a little daunting in the books you've got take a look at "All New Electronics Self Teaching Guide" isbn # 0470289619. Does a good job of walking you through much of the math used in electronics

 

If the math looks a little daunting in the books you've got take a look at "All New Electronics Self Teaching Guide" isbn # 0470289619. Does a good job of walking you through much of the math used in electronics

Another highly recommended text would be Engineering Mathematics by Stroud.

Dave