After 3 years of studying EE...

[TecHNooB]

..the dreaded... FOURIER SERIES!

This stuff is a mess to trudge through :/

Average time required to understand this stuff? I see the intent, but sometimes the math doesn't mesh so nice 🙁

 

[foges]

You do it in your third year, we do them in the second semester... second semester starts in 2 weeks for me :s

 

[Born2bwire]

Yeah I actually think I hit these second semester myself. Definitely did these in my Diff Eq course that I took second semester and in my Analog Signal Processiong course which also was second semester I think. *shrug* Hooray for Fourier Series! Hooray for Laplace Transform!

Hooray!!!

 

[TecHNooB]

Second semester?? How much could you possibly know by second semester -__-;; I got all A's in every math course I've ever taken at Uni, but I never fully understood all the concepts until I re-encountered them in an ECE course.

 

[CP5670]

Average time required to understand this stuff?

Depends on how in depth you want to go. For a quick overview, just read the wikipedia article on it and some other articles it links to. That gives all the basic ideas quickly. On the other hand, the study of these things and related concepts forms a major area of math called harmonic analysis, and numerous books have been written on it.

Hooray!!!

That's awesome. :laugh:

 

[TecHNooB]

Originally posted by: CP5670

Average time required to understand this stuff?

Depends on how in depth you want to go. For a quick overview, just read the wikipedia article on it and some other articles it links to. That gives all the basic ideas quickly. On the other hand, the study of these things and related concepts forms a major area of math called harmonic analysis, and numerous books have been written on it.

Hooray!!!

That's awesome. :laugh:

I just want to understand all the derivations, make all the necessary connections, traverse both realms (time/frequency) with ease, and ultimately.. kill the exams 😛

 

[slackwarelinux]

I'm a second year CompE, and I'm starting with the Fourier series next week in my math class.

I'm looking forward to it, it sounds fun 😀

 

[TuxDave]

Same as above. I learned it in my linear system class. Luckily I also AP'd out of the first 2 semesters of math so I was learning it at the same time as my differential equation class so I was taught it in two different classes at the same time 🙂

 

[BrownTown]

I guess it matters whether you AP out of first year math, I got to it second semester freshmen year, but didn't use it for EE related stuff until I took linear systems in first semester freshmen year. Fourier series is one of the few things you learn in math that is actually USEFUL to understanding electrical engineering. It really is quite simple concept though, don't let the math fool you, just concentrate on what it means physically and the implications to real life. The discrete versions are also important for even the most basic digital signal processing.

EDIT: never considered it soemthing anyone dreaded. People dreaded the electromagnetics course (because its nothing but 3D vector calculus and hard to visualize) far more than Fourier series.

 

[TecHNooB]

Originally posted by: BrownTown
I guess it matters whether you AP out of first year math, I got to it second semester freshmen year, but didn't use it for EE related stuff until I took linear systems in first semester freshmen year. Fourier series is one of the few things you learn in math that is actually USEFUL to understanding electrical engineering. It really is quite simple concept though, don't let the math fool you, just concentrate on what it means physically and the implications to real life. The discrete versions are also important for even the most basic digital signal processing.

EDIT: never considered it soemthing anyone dreaded. People dreaded the electromagnetics course (because its nothing but 3D vector calculus and hard to visualize) far more than Fourier series.

I'm dreading that one too 😛

 

[Lord Banshee]

Originally posted by: TecHNooB

Originally posted by: BrownTown
I guess it matters whether you AP out of first year math, I got to it second semester freshmen year, but didn't use it for EE related stuff until I took linear systems in first semester freshmen year. Fourier series is one of the few things you learn in math that is actually USEFUL to understanding electrical engineering. It really is quite simple concept though, don't let the math fool you, just concentrate on what it means physically and the implications to real life. The discrete versions are also important for even the most basic digital signal processing.

EDIT: never considered it soemthing anyone dreaded. People dreaded the electromagnetics course (because its nothing but 3D vector calculus and hard to visualize) far more than Fourier series.

I'm dreading that one too 😛

lol, I actually liked the E Fields class.. I think i even made an A in it 🙂

But Fourier Series I am with your TechNoob did not like them...

It seems now that I have doing "pure" digital logic / RTL design sense graduating I am slowing losing all my EE "Crazy Math" knowledge. Thats ok, one i like my job a lot and two i probably would be able to pick up pretty quick if i would study up on it first.

Good Luck TechNooB

 

[Born2bwire]

Originally posted by: TecHNooB

Originally posted by: BrownTown
I guess it matters whether you AP out of first year math, I got to it second semester freshmen year, but didn't use it for EE related stuff until I took linear systems in first semester freshmen year. Fourier series is one of the few things you learn in math that is actually USEFUL to understanding electrical engineering. It really is quite simple concept though, don't let the math fool you, just concentrate on what it means physically and the implications to real life. The discrete versions are also important for even the most basic digital signal processing.

EDIT: never considered it soemthing anyone dreaded. People dreaded the electromagnetics course (because its nothing but 3D vector calculus and hard to visualize) far more than Fourier series.

I'm dreading that one too 😛

🙁 *whine* Why don't more people enjoy electromagnetics?

 

[BrownTown]

Originally posted by: Born2bwire
🙁 *whine* Why don't more people enjoy electromagnetics?

because its HARD? And I can't speak for any other persons expereicne, but at college our EM class made us to a ton of vector calculus by hand which takes alot of time and I always ended up screwing it up. I got something like 25% of the homework problems correct int hat class just because each one took a freaking hour and one cock up and its game over.

 

[soccerballtux]

Originally posted by: foges
You do it in your third year, we do them in the second semester... second semester starts in 2 weeks for me :s

3rd semester for me too.
I remember my DSP class, I would start the lab anywhere form 7-9pm the night before, work through the night and into the next day until my lab at 3pm where I would turn in the lab and do the in-lab verifications for the next weeks lab.

Those were the days.

 

[KIAman]

6 courses in physics and 6 courses in math required for my COMPUTER SCIENCE degree. At least these are in your field of study.

 

[bobsmith1492]

Once you start thinking in the frequency domain, you never look at anything the same again. It's like learning a new language, kind of.

Are you doing Fourier in a math class? I never saw it until Signals/Systems, certainly not in Linear Algebra/Diff Eq./Calc...

 

[TecHNooB]

Originally posted by: bobsmith1492
Once you start thinking in the frequency domain, you never look at anything the same again. It's like learning a new language, kind of.

Are you doing Fourier in a math class? I never saw it until Signals/Systems, certainly not in Linear Algebra/Diff Eq./Calc...

Same. All the math/science/circuit analysis/programming courses came first.

Originally posted by: KIAman
6 courses in physics and 6 courses in math required for my COMPUTER SCIENCE degree. At least these are in your field of study.

Those courses will certainly make you a more versatile programmer.

 

[BrownTown]

Originally posted by: KIAman
6 courses in physics and 6 courses in math required for my COMPUTER SCIENCE degree. At least these are in your field of study.

six courses in PHYSICS!??!?, I didn't take a single physics course in college to get an EE degree. You only needed 2 semesters and I APed out of them. WTF do you need quantum mechanics to program a computer for?

 

[esun]

Originally posted by: BrownTown

Originally posted by: KIAman
6 courses in physics and 6 courses in math required for my COMPUTER SCIENCE degree. At least these are in your field of study.

six courses in PHYSICS!??!?, I didn't take a single physics course in college to get an EE degree. You only needed 2 semesters and I APed out of them. WTF do you need quantum mechanics to program a computer for?

Understanding quantum algorithms, which may become relevant if quantum computers ever become a reality (although you could argue they're still relevant from a theoretical perspective either way).

Some also hold the opinion that these classes, while they do not necessarily provide material that is directly used in your field, indicate a level of intellectual maturity necessary to be successful in your field. For example, the problem solving skills learned in an physics class could easily be applied elsewhere.

 

[BrownTown]

Originally posted by: esun

Originally posted by: BrownTown

Originally posted by: KIAman
6 courses in physics and 6 courses in math required for my COMPUTER SCIENCE degree. At least these are in your field of study.

six courses in PHYSICS!??!?, I didn't take a single physics course in college to get an EE degree. You only needed 2 semesters and I APed out of them. WTF do you need quantum mechanics to program a computer for?

Understanding quantum algorithms, which may become relevant if quantum computers ever become a reality (although you could argue they're still relevant from a theoretical perspective either way).

Some also hold the opinion that these classes, while they do not necessarily provide material that is directly used in your field, indicate a level of intellectual maturity necessary to be successful in your field. For example, the problem solving skills learned in an physics class could easily be applied elsewhere.

that doesn't really make sense, you could much more efficiently have "intellectually mature" computer science classes without the need to learn a bunch of useless physics in the process. Each physics class is one less advanced CS class you arent taking.

 

[KIAman]

Believe me when I say that it was a huge waste of time and resources. And, to make things worse, my focus was on software engineering and project management.

Actually, I feel that higher education is a waste of time and resources, in general. It's a sad world when kids come out of college more ill-prepared for real life, often with huge debts to carry into their careers, assuming there is one in their field of study.

Here is some personal experience for everyone. I've got 7 siblings and all but 1 have a bachelor's or above. Only I have a job in my degree and even then, it's really stretching the definition of Computer Science. They all unilaterally agree that college, while fun, was a big f***ing waste of life.

Edit: Sorry OP if this discourages you in any way. Keep at your dreams. A degree is good on your resume, which is the first window into your career prospectives other than good people connections.

 

[Knavish]

Originally posted by: TecHNooB
..the dreaded... FOURIER SERIES!

This stuff is a mess to trudge through :/

Average time required to understand this stuff? I see the intent, but sometimes the math doesn't mesh so nice 🙁

I always found it nice to keep a symbolic math program like Maple or Mathematica as backup rather than getting frustrated with math. Heck, I even turned in Maple worksheets with my homework. I did have to know how to get it done on the tests by hand, though...

 

[CP5670]

I always found it nice to keep a symbolic math program like Maple or Mathematica as backup rather than getting frustrated with math.

This is a good way to catch minor errors in your work. The manual computations they make you do in undergraduate classes on this stuff can get tedious, and aren't really that important either for the theory or applications.

At the same time though, most symbolic algebra programs are only good when dealing with analytic functions, and you may run into discontinuous functions or simple examples of distributions in these classes. I know Mathematica often fails when functions like that are involved somewhere, even when an easy symbolic answer is available.

 

[DanDaManJC]

it's basically just another math class right?

I didn't think my signals class was bad at all, even though a lot of people dreaded taking the class too.

 

[esun]

I don't think anyone dreaded our signals classes in general. Sure, some were hard conceptually (digital communications, stochastic processes), but not 100 hour project hard like some of our digital design courses.