Engineers, I need some help w/ math... - F-Body Road Racing and Autocross Forums

Hey guys, I want to go to school for engineering, Electrical or Electronics (both, if they have a program like that).

Anyhow, I have a big problem that currently prevents me from finishing even my Associates (Community College of the Air Force).....I can't do text-book algebra.

I can do applied algebra, I've been doing it since I was a kid. But, put a text book in front of me, with x=axb+c2/d, and I might as well be reading Latin.

One test study guide that I looked at had a question asking what the square root of i is. I can't even begin to understand how I get an answer to that. My line of thinking is that an imaginary number doesn't exist, therefore, it can't have a square root. Nothing = nothing.

I worked at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center until recently, and I looked over some of the papers and machine technical stuff, in how the accelerator works, beam physics, etc.

When I look at that kind of stuff, it makes sense to me....I may not know the exact answer, but if I had all of the necessary information, I could figure out the answer.

I also picked up a book, "Engineering Formulas", by two German guys, and looking through there, the formulas make sense to me.

Has anybody had this kind of problem before, or know somebody that did, or just have any suggestions that might help me out?

I love doing math, but it frustrates the crap out of me that I can't get past this. I tried taking algebra twice in high school, flunked both times, tried it again in 1998, and got a D on that.

I don't want to just pass the classes, I actually want to learn the stuff. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

John

Guardsman View Member Profile	Dec 6 2004, 09:37 PM Post #1
Member Group: Advanced Members Posts: 178 Joined: 4-February 04 Member No.: 178	Hey guys, I want to go to school for engineering, Electrical or Electronics (both, if they have a program like that). Anyhow, I have a big problem that currently prevents me from finishing even my Associates (Community College of the Air Force).....I can't do text-book algebra. I can do applied algebra, I've been doing it since I was a kid. But, put a text book in front of me, with x=axb+c2/d, and I might as well be reading Latin. One test study guide that I looked at had a question asking what the square root of i is. I can't even begin to understand how I get an answer to that. My line of thinking is that an imaginary number doesn't exist, therefore, it can't have a square root. Nothing = nothing. I worked at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center until recently, and I looked over some of the papers and machine technical stuff, in how the accelerator works, beam physics, etc. When I look at that kind of stuff, it makes sense to me....I may not know the exact answer, but if I had all of the necessary information, I could figure out the answer. I also picked up a book, "Engineering Formulas", by two German guys, and looking through there, the formulas make sense to me. Has anybody had this kind of problem before, or know somebody that did, or just have any suggestions that might help me out? I love doing math, but it frustrates the crap out of me that I can't get past this. I tried taking algebra twice in high school, flunked both times, tried it again in 1998, and got a D on that. I don't want to just pass the classes, I actually want to learn the stuff. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks. John

Matt View Member Profile	Dec 7 2004, 01:10 PM Post #2
Member Group: Advanced Members Posts: 36 Joined: 14-April 04 From: Des Moines, IA Member No.: 309	Its difficult to complete Engineering if you can't understand Algebra. Everything above Algebra relies on it. When I started taking classes to get my EE degree, I started with a college Algebra class since it had been more than 10 years since I was in High School, now I'm about a week away from being done with calc3. The best thing I can recommend is do problems, lots of them until the method makes sense. You don't have to do the difficult problems, just the simple ones at first to get used to it. My other favorite place to get Math help is SOS Math Help There are some pretty intelligent people on there who can help you understand the most basic math.