Engineering and maths....

DaDon

I have engineering down as nearly all my choices on the CAO, I've always presumed I'd do engineering but I'm now only starting to think about the 4 or so years of maths in between.
I'm ok at maths, I don't like it much but put up with it. I like physics because it's interesting.
I love trigonometry and the real problem solving aspect of paper 2 but I HATE paper 1 as I feel like the maths doesn't seem to have a purpose.
Is engineering right for me?
There's guys in my class way worse at physics and maths than me and they're adamant they want to do engineering..
Is there anyone out there who did engineering that wasn't too great at maths.
Is scraping the HC3 entry requirement enough or do you need to be getting high Bs or even As?

Can anyone tell me how hard the maths aspect of engineering is and what's involved? I'd probably be doing mechanical.

Thanks!

copacetic

It does depend on where you go to college but imo if you are scraping a low grade, then engineering might not be for you. The college level maths in some of the courses is equivalent to a maths degree and it's a significant step up from leaving cert. Especially in say UCD or TCD which tend toward the more theory side of things.

You don't have to love maths but you should find it pretty manageable.

pljudge321

DaDon wrote: »

I have engineering down as nearly all my choices on the CAO, I've always presumed I'd do engineering but I'm now only starting to think about the 4 or so years of maths in between.
I'm ok at maths, I don't like it much but put up with it. I like physics because it's interesting.
I love trigonometry and the real problem solving aspect of paper 2 but I HATE paper 1 as I feel like the maths doesn't seem to have a purpose.
Is engineering right for me?
There's guys in my class way worse at physics and maths than me and they're adamant they want to do engineering..
Is there anyone out there who did engineering that wasn't too great at maths.
Is scraping the HC3 entry requirement enough or do you need to be getting high Bs or even As?

Can anyone tell me how hard the maths aspect of engineering is and what's involved? I'd probably be doing mechanical.

Thanks!

Remind me again, whats on paper 1.

readystudypass

pljudge321 wrote: »

Remind me again, whats on paper 1.

http://www.examinations.ie/archive/exampapers/2010/LC003ALP100EV.pdf

sock puppet

Stuff from paper 1 will feature heavily in maths lectures if you do an Engineering degree. I share a maths class with Engineers and so far (2nd year) we've studied lots and lots of calculus, vectors, complex numbers and sequences and series. So they'd all build on paper 1 topics.

pljudge321

sock puppet wrote: »

Stuff from paper 1 will feature heavily in maths lectures if you do an Engineering degree. I share a maths class with Engineers and so far (2nd year) we've studied lots and lots of calculus, vectors, complex numbers and sequences and series. So they'd all build on paper 1 topics.

Yeah, I had a look over paper 1 and the only thing on it that I haven't used in the last week or so if proof by induction. I'm in 3rd year by the way.

ZRelation

Engineering is maths heavy and if you're scraping a HC3 you'll find it tough. Alot of the 1st and 2nd year engineering maths courses focus on what you'll see in paper 1, calculus, vectors etc.

That said, I know former classmates of mine came in scraping a pass at higher level or even through the special maths exam. They got on ok in the end, however they always had a tough time with the maths heavy courses....and there's a good few of them in mech eng.

Jdivision91

hey, yeah i am in the same boat as well!. mainly wondering what the maths is like in a biomedical engineering course in general and whether a person who is aiming for just a c3 in maths would be able to cope?? any suggestions definately welcome!:D

galwayman17..

Jdivision91 wrote: »

hey, yeah i am in the same boat as well!. mainly wondering what the maths is like in a biomedical engineering course in general and whether a person who is aiming for just a c3 in maths would be able to cope?? any suggestions definately welcome!:D

well mate,
iv been asking about engineering aswell and im doin computer science and i.t. im doin the leaving cert now and all i keep hearing is engineering and computers is the way to go! i think those types of engineering are very similar and iv heard of people switching between them in 1st year so not to worry!

GV_NRG

Jdivision91 wrote: »

hey, yeah i am in the same boat as well!. mainly wondering what the maths is like in a biomedical engineering course in general and whether a person who is aiming for just a c3 in maths would be able to cope?? any suggestions definately welcome!:D

finally someone else on here wants to do biomed engineering!!! :P where are you going doing it??

its weird but im in the exact same bat as you right now i got 43% iin the mocks but i didnt do a tap and im going to grinds every day so im hoping that result will increase :P is biomedical engineering maths heavy??

kevohmsford

The maths in mechanical engineering is manageable enough. Nearly every module contains some form of it. Fluid mechanics, control systems, mechanics of machines, mechanics of materials, heat and mass transfer etc. It is mostly calculus and integration all over the place. One module of statistics aswell in second year. Applied maths in the leaving cert would be handy but not a must. Definately physics.

Delta Kilo

Biomedical engineering will have the exact same maths as mechanical engineering, you will be in the same maths module together.

If you are scraping the C3, you will find maths tough. Ironically i found the "pure" maths modules quite ok, it was the mechanics problems and similar that i found tricky. If you have done applied maths then it would be a huge benefit.

The maths modules arent that bad especially if your college is semesterised, so you will do 12 weeks of an area of maths, be examined on it and never have to look at it again, its not like leaving cert where you have to remember two years of material.

Jdivision91

GV_NRG wrote: »

finally someone else on here wants to do biomed engineering!!! :P where are you going doing it??

its weird but im in the exact same bat as you right now i got 43% iin the mocks but i didnt do a tap and im going to grinds every day so im hoping that result will increase :P is biomedical engineering maths heavy??

i am thinking of doing it in ucd but i heard its focuses more on the theoretical side rather than the practical which im not too keen on!. dunno whether to put down a science course as well under engineering because it only needs a pass so that could possibly be a second choice if all else fails!! would ove to know whether or not first year in engineering would be horrible without a decent result in maths!

Maybe_Memories

DaDon wrote: »

I have engineering down as nearly all my choices on the CAO, I've always presumed I'd do engineering but I'm now only starting to think about the 4 or so years of maths in between.
I'm ok at maths, I don't like it much but put up with it. I like physics because it's interesting.
I love trigonometry and the real problem solving aspect of paper 2 but I HATE paper 1 as I feel like the maths doesn't seem to have a purpose.
Is engineering right for me?
There's guys in my class way worse at physics and maths than me and they're adamant they want to do engineering..
Is there anyone out there who did engineering that wasn't too great at maths.
Is scraping the HC3 entry requirement enough or do you need to be getting high Bs or even As?

Can anyone tell me how hard the maths aspect of engineering is and what's involved? I'd probably be doing mechanical.

Thanks!

I'm a maths student not an engineer, but I have some advice. Did my LC last year.

Generally, in university level maths/physics/engineering you never see any of maths paper 2, with the exception of trig, and even then it;s quite rare.

If you don't like or find calculus difficult, it's probably not the best route to take. Differential equations, vector calculus and matricies will have to become second nature to you.

But, all this stuff takes is practice

Noo

If you are just scaping by to get HC3 then you'll find it difficult enough, but not impossible. But engineering maths you do in college can be very different to what you do school, and you dont have teachers going over and over it again and giving you questions for homework then doing it again, you've pretty much one chance to grasp it or else you'll have to struggle to teach yourself it...so if you find it difficult to grasp maths concepts and stuff like that then have a good think about it.

Also depends on where you go, someone already said that some of the maths is like doing an actual maths degree...well in Trinity you do get a maths degree after 3rd year. Also means you dont do maths in 4th year YAY!

ZRelation

Maybe_Memories wrote: »

I
Generally, in university level maths/physics/engineering you never see any of maths paper 2, with the exception of trig, and even then it;s quite rare.

Actually unless things have changed since I did the course I'd say a fair bit of the maths in paper two is used in engineering (including biomed)....trigonometry(biomechanics courses), vectors(everything!!), transformations (stresses/mohrs circle etc) and statistics (there's a whole course on this).

First year would be more focused on paper 1, but eventually throughout the course you'd touch on most things in both papers.

Daniel S

DaDon wrote: »

I have engineering down as nearly all my choices on the CAO, I've always presumed I'd do engineering but I'm now only starting to think about the 4 or so years of maths in between.
I'm ok at maths, I don't like it much but put up with it. I like physics because it's interesting.
I love trigonometry and the real problem solving aspect of paper 2 but I HATE paper 1 as I feel like the maths doesn't seem to have a purpose.
Is engineering right for me?
There's guys in my class way worse at physics and maths than me and they're adamant they want to do engineering..
Is there anyone out there who did engineering that wasn't too great at maths.
Is scraping the HC3 entry requirement enough or do you need to be getting high Bs or even As?

Can anyone tell me how hard the maths aspect of engineering is and what's involved? I'd probably be doing mechanical.

Thanks!

Holy shíte!

You're exactly the same as me! :eek:

miss no stars

Honestly, I'd say if you got a C3 you'd be fine. It's different at leavng cert cos honestly, I found the teachers were sh!te and couldn't impart an understanding of the maths concepts. Also, if you're doing engineering, the reality is that you're actually USING the maths you do on a very very regular basis. It's just a tool for doing other stuff.

eyescreamcone

They have C3 as an entry criteria for a reason.
But, that said if you get a C3 in HL Maths you should be well able to get your degree