Electronics takes a lot of math. Once you’ve mastered all the algebra and calculus, though, it is sometimes a drag to go through the motions. It also can be error-prone. But these days, you have Wolfram Alpha which will do all the work for you and very easily. I use it all the time when I’m too lazy to solve an equation or do an integral by hand. But did you know it actually has some features specifically for electronics? If you want to do a lot with electronics — or nearly any technical field — you are going to have to learn some math and you shouldn’t just rely on tools like Wolfram to skirt understanding the math. Unfortunately, schools often teach us that the point to math is to get a correct answer. For bookkeepers and at the very final stage of engineering, that may be true. But the real value to math for engineers and scientists is to develop intuition about things. If you increase a capacitor’s value does that make its reactance go up or down? Does a little change in load resistance make a corresponding small change in power consumption or is it a lot more? So you should understand why math works. But once you do, using a tool like Wolfram can free you to focus on the abstract questions instead of the detailed “grunt work.” Tip #1: Split Personality Wolfram can’t seem to decide if it is a symbolic math program or a… [Read full story]
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