recklessrog
- Joined May 23, 2013
- 985
I thought of myself as being poor at maths, not because I couldn't "do" maths, but not knowing how to relate it to electronics due to my schooling's lack of enough instruction in applied mathematics.
It was only when my science teacher saw some piece of equipment I had built and brought to school, he asked me how it worked and I described the operation of each component, that he asked me how I had calculated the values of the parts I had used. My reply surprised him that I hadn't, and that through studying dozens of various circuits, I had "assumed" them.
This is when he said, "maybe it would be better if you knew how to calculate them" and spent several months teaching me how to find the the maths required, how to use maths "as a tool"
At the age of ten, I built a simple oscilloscope using a VCR197a crt and parts recovered from old tv's, radios and army surplus equipment. The actual design was a mix of two taken from practical wireless magazine and another I can't remember. But, I had calculated the value of the components and changed them where necessary to make it work. This showed me the "value" of maths to enable me to achieve a successful end result.
From then on my enjoyment of electronics grew and grew to the point where I made it a lifetime career. I am now retired, still enjoy electronics and never stop learning. When I'm rusty on a subject, I now know where to look to find the correct information to revise it.
I still don't enjoy maths, but as I said earlier, It is a tool, a very necessary tool if you want to succeed in electronics, it's the process of putting theory into practice, and it is the challenge I enjoy.
It was only when my science teacher saw some piece of equipment I had built and brought to school, he asked me how it worked and I described the operation of each component, that he asked me how I had calculated the values of the parts I had used. My reply surprised him that I hadn't, and that through studying dozens of various circuits, I had "assumed" them.
This is when he said, "maybe it would be better if you knew how to calculate them" and spent several months teaching me how to find the the maths required, how to use maths "as a tool"
At the age of ten, I built a simple oscilloscope using a VCR197a crt and parts recovered from old tv's, radios and army surplus equipment. The actual design was a mix of two taken from practical wireless magazine and another I can't remember. But, I had calculated the value of the components and changed them where necessary to make it work. This showed me the "value" of maths to enable me to achieve a successful end result.
From then on my enjoyment of electronics grew and grew to the point where I made it a lifetime career. I am now retired, still enjoy electronics and never stop learning. When I'm rusty on a subject, I now know where to look to find the correct information to revise it.
I still don't enjoy maths, but as I said earlier, It is a tool, a very necessary tool if you want to succeed in electronics, it's the process of putting theory into practice, and it is the challenge I enjoy.