Undergraduate Major Forum

[09042014]

I read it. You get calculators in college.

In most engineering and physics courses you do not. At least not on exams.

[merichard87]

I read it. You get calculators in college.

Maybe other engineers had a different experience but we were never allowed to use calculators from Cal 1 to Diff Eq 2.

Also, OP the reason Hard IP aka Patents is so much more in demand is because its a super specialized field with relatively few people who qualify to practice it. Anyone could do soft IP.

[OrdinarilySkilled]

I read it. You get calculators in college.

In most engineering and physics courses you do not. At least not on exams.

If by that you meant in most engineering and physics courses you do get a calculator, then I agree. Maybe not in IE, where you only need to be somewhat sober when taking an exam.

Edit: Wait your probably right. I def had calculators in physics exams though.

[Bosque]

Why do you like IP so much anyway?

Yes EE is electrical engineering. Sounds like you should do engineering and be an engineer. Patent law = describing something in words and then arguing what is meant by those words. The rest of IP also boringish.

Read the rest of the thread bud, I'm good at the describing part and arguing it. It's this thing called math that I got problems with. Haha

Heres another question I'm interested in.
Why is the market so drastically different between 'hard IP' and 'soft IP', I feel that because they are in the same category and deal with the same thing the market/economy/pay would be equal to it. But many people have mentioned a drastic difference. Is there? And if so how large? I'm looking at soft IP and it looks really interesting still.
PS I'm worried about the pay check. But because I want to pay off my loans, not because I want a Mercedes.

From what I understand, you are not just talking about Soft v. Hard IP. You also seem to specifically want copyright, not trademark.

Anyway, point is they DON'T deal with the same thing. The subject matter covered by patents is different than the subject matter protected by trademark and copyright, as are the protections each offer. Also, Patent has a lengthy application process to be entitled to protection. Copyright is automatic, from the moment it is set down in some form.

I would be clearer and more explicit, but I am tired. I might come back and try again tomorrow.

[09042014]

I read it. You get calculators in college.

In most engineering and physics courses you do not. At least not on exams.

If by that you meant in most engineering and physics courses you do get a calculator, then I agree. Maybe not in IE, where you only need to be somewhat sober when taking an exam.

Edit: Wait your probably right. I def had calculators in physics exams though.

Now that I think of it, I think I had them in physics expect for the 300 level I took.

Either way, they aren't going to let you use a calculator to do the calculus and diff eq that they want you to learn.

[rayiner]

I was allowed to use a calculator on many of my exams, but it didn't help much. The calculation is the easy part --- the derivations and figuring out what calculations to do is the hard part.

Also OP: what is "describing" and "arguing" physics? You can't describe physics without using math, not at least at the level of detail that physics majors actually work with the subject.

You seem to be under the impression that physics is taught like a humanities at the undergraduate level. "These are the types of subatomic particles, etc." It's not. It's more like: "this is how you start with the wave equation and derive the physics of the hydrogen atom."

[fburdelliv]

I was allowed to use a calculator on many of my exams, but it didn't help much. The calculation is the easy part --- the derivations and figuring out what calculations to do is the hard part.

Also OP: what is "describing" and "arguing" physics? You can't describe physics without using math, not at least at the level of detail that physics majors actually work with the subject.

You seem to be under the impression that physics is taught like a humanities at the undergraduate level. "These are the types of subatomic particles, etc." It's not. It's more like: "this is how you start with the wave equation and derive the physics of the hydrogen atom."

Didn't mean to imply that I thought physics were taught like the humanities, I know they aren't.

[yellowjacket2012]

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[yellowjacket2012]

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[yellowjacket2012]

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[rinkrat19]

Speaking as an engineer, I can't stress enough that you will NOT succeed in physics or engineering (any branch) without excellent math skills. As a freshman I took Infinite Series/Sequences, Vector Calc, and Applied Differential Equations...and proceded to USE it for the rest of the 4 years. It's been a while, but I'd say that a typical weekly assignment in one engineering class for me was 4-5 pages of solid hand-written calculations and derivations. Multiplied by 10 weeks/term, 4 classes/term, 3 terms a year, 4-5 years. Anyone with weak math skills is weeded out in the first couple of weeks. Same with physics (if anything, there was even more derivation of formulas).

Yes, your humongous graphing calculator becomes your best friend and security blanket, but it will NOT get you through Diff Eq or even regular old Calculus if you don't understand the underlying concepts. And a lot of the work has to be done by hand anyway. Showing your work is worth as much as the final answer, much of the time.

If you didn't hit college with AP credit from Calculus (and probably also Physics and/or Chemistry), you're already way behind the average physics and engineering student. And I'm not describing MIT or Stanford, I'm describing a state school with a respectable but not world-renowned engineering program.