[sdiy] SDIY MATH GOALS--need real help!

[David Ingebretsen]

Hey all,

First, I need to address "the rant", partly in agreement partly not, (with
all due respect Terry :) ). I have a graduate degree in physics and you
really can't do physics without advanced math. While the basic "ideas" in
physics can be well explained in simple words and images, Newton invented
the calculus (Leibniz would argue who invented it) because he had to have it
to describe the real world. Physics without the calculus is like a beach
without water. In turn, math is the language of nature. My professor in
quantum dynamics announced that the Schrödinger wave equation had an
infinite number of solutions, but that there were only a few physically
interesting ones. He then said, "we'll study those and leave all the others
to the mathematicians..." :) 

For you Dan. If you want to do intense new development and push limits, you
will need to bite the bullet and do the math. If you want to tweak/implement
established designs, others have said it here already. Your foundation in
algebra is great, learn enough trig to get you head around the sine and
cosine functions and to understand phase. A study of the exponential/log
functions would help, too. You can memorize the results of the equations and
learn when and how to apply them. Bread-boarding a design and tweaking it
will give you a great intuition. You should probably get an idea as to what
the concept of integration and differentiation are as those ideas crop up
often in analog circuits.

I've always held that good analog design is all voodoo magic and many a soul
has been sold to get a circuit working :)

Horowitz and Hill, The Art of Electronics, is a great book and as I recall
doesn't use anything more than algebra and a bit of trigonometry.

That said, despite a pretty intense background in very advanced mathematics
and physics, it's been decades for me since I've really designed or tweaked
any type of circuits and I feel lost trying to remember some of the most
basic concepts in circuit design and operation. I'm just grateful I can
remember resistor color codes...

David

David M. Ingebretsen M.S., M.E.
Collision Forensics & Engineering, Inc.
2469 East Fort Union Blvd. STE 114
Salt Lake City, UT 84121
www.CFandE.com

801 733-5458 Office
801 842-5451 Cell

dingebre at CFandE.com
dingebre at 3dphysics.net



-----Original Message-----
From: synth-diy-bounces at dropmix.xs4all.nl
[mailto:synth-diy-bounces at dropmix.xs4all.nl] On Behalf Of KA4HJH
Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2009 8:57 PM
To: synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
Subject: Re: [sdiy] SDIY MATH GOALS--need real help!

>Did anyone else here on the list go through a similar phase when they got
>into electronics? I am too broke and busy right now to go back to school
>so I need to do this on my own.

<first draft of rant>

My experience has been that math *classes* beyond Algebra I were
increasingly boring because they were decreasingly "real-world"; dull
abstractions that were gone over endlessly because 2/3 of the class simply
didn't get it. It was an exercise in learning how to pass math tests, not
learning Math. At the same time everyone _else_ seemed to have a decreasing
ability to make the gestalt and every time the teacher assigned a "word
problem" it elicited a chorus of groans from the word-problem-challenged.
Now, math is an abstraction but the real world is loaded with it. What
better way to teach it to people who aren't math prodigies than using
real-world examples?

Now here's the punchline: the same people who got A's in Trig & Analysis I
(which bored me to tears) got C's and D's in Physics I, which I found
ridiculously easy (mostly Algebra I and a little trig--and we had
calculators by my time). Being able to game the system to pass tests
suddenly didn't work for that crowd anymore because it was ALL a "word
problem"

The point, aside from my doubts about our educational system, is that with
some practical electronics and audio experience under your belt you're
already ahead of the game. Basic calculus concepts ultimately made
_intuitive_ sense to me--without being formally educated in it--because of
the real-world relationship and it probably will for you. You just need
that gestalt. That's the basic thing you're looking for. Math may exist in
a classical vacuum but what I can hear is much more interesting to me.

Finding a book that teaches it this way...ouch. Life is nothing but a "word
problem"and that I simply "get it". It boggles me that they didn't teach
math (and other things) that way. Probably still don't. And yeah, that
digital filter stuff in EN made my eyes glaze over but the rest of it...

<rant paused>

-- 

Terry Bowman, KA4HJH
"The Mac Doctor"

"You'd PAY to know what you REALLY think"--Dobbs
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