What I remember about undergrad engineering was that we were always in the library studying, while the business majors were out at the bar every night.
Electrical engineering student here. What I love most about EE, is that while all engineering majors at my university will take the core mathematics classes, EE is the only one that will immediately take almost all of these topics and apply them to circuit analysis, signal processing etc… it makes math far more enjoyable. As an example you’d come across early on, when you begin learning the Laplace transform and suddenly apply it to reactive components, you magically dodge the horrific differential equations you’d otherwise have to solve in a high order circuit. But then, you realise that this domain, which used to (untransformed) relate output to time, can now plot frequency. You see that a clever arrangement of capacitors and inductors allows you to capture certain frequencies and suddenly you have a frequency-selective filter, the building block of radio communication and so much more . What’s that? An annoying hiss being picked up in the speaker that’s picking up a sound signal? Apply a Fourier transform and single it out. Then, in vector calculus you’ll learn about line integrals, force fields, divergence, curl… Next semester Maxwells equations describe electromagnetics using these very concepts in what anyone else would consider magic. As challenging as it is, the math and physics within EE is the most beautiful thing I’ve come across in my entire academic journey. This looks like a great book, however, what is undoubtedly the best book for introductory EE is “Electric Circuits” by Nilsson and Riedel. It’s extremely fundamental, covers tons of math (including but not limited to almost everything I’ve spoken about here), and explains topics better than most professors by just reading through it. Seriously, I would skip classes just to work from the book as it was a better use of my time.
Yay I love the Nillson and Riedel book. My professor almost co authored it a while back. Now he just contributed to it by giving them some source transformations that they didn’t have present before. It’s a great book, and I think my professor loves it and he’s been teaching circuit analysis for 30+ years. He made his own textbook as a matter of fact but still recommends us to solve the problems in that text
Hey Math Sorcerer! I actually took your Calculus I class in real life two years ago and am now studying Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Tech. It's very hard but the skills I learned in your class and in your videos have helped me greatly.
AEROSPACE engineer here: Sorry to call your prof out but its BULLSHlT that electrical engineering is the hardest. Its not close to either aerospace or nuclear engineering. Due to various outcomes I have spent most of my career in industrial control systems and automation. So I have done a fair amount of electrical engineering and know what it is and isn't. WHAT MAKES Aerospace and Nuclear engineering so much harder is the additional maths classes needed to get the required skills to do things like (in my case) aerodynamics, propulsion, orbital mechanics and the hardest class I ever took *Spacecraft Dynamics.* I don't know how far you are into your degree but if you like I'll let you know why I found some classes horrendously hard and others more palatable and others MORE USEFUL. Sorry but they all sort of suck in their way its just that some suck worse than others.
As an electrical engineer, I just have to say that I love Laplace transforms. It made seemingly impossible differential equations into simple arithmetic. Circuit analysis was literally easier in senior classes than in junior classes.
My son got his EE degree a year ago. It was very math intensive, and for 4 years he had no social life. He got an 80k/year job the week before graduation, and then walked into the local Tesla dealership and bought a car a week after he got his diploma with nothing down. He says his job is easy, and acknowledges they are paying him for the "piece of paper" (diploma).
Engineers and engineering students have no social lives to begin with. Saying that you're constantly busy studying is just a cheap excuse or maybe you just have very poor time management skills.
@@elbasado481yes EE has limitless opportunity, everything is advancing unbelievably fast. EE is great choice, pay attention to everything, everything can be used in the EE field and it opens you up to more opportunities. As you go try to find something to specialize in (power, circuit design, RF and Comm. , etc) so that you get an edge and know what electives to take. $80,000 is just starting, the ceiling is getting higher and higher. For example experienced software engineers at the big companies get paid over a million. At that point their stock compensation is bigger than their salary and their bonus bigger than most people’s yearly income. I know this is not EE but once you get started on this journey it’s not too difficult to jump ship if you enjoy learning and are fascinated by how everything works. The more you specialize / continue your education / the more value you will have and companies will be willing to pay a lot for you. As you learn the real world industry then you can start making your own moves or deploying your ideas. Big things happening with ML / AI , Modern Physics and as result Quantum Computing. Big opportunities for EEs with great interests in these fields. If I was young, I would start learning programming ASAP, it’s something you can really start doing on your own and actually most EEs HAVE to because they only get like one programming class. If you wanna be an OP EE, simultaneously become an “unofficial software engineer” by getting all the education online lol. At that point you’ll also be a computer engineer so you’ll be be super OP. Lol sorry for long message I just find it so cool how everything is advancing so fast. It’s so fast that we don’t even know how to divide the fields of engineering because they overlap . I wonder what the future of STEM will look like.
I received a BS degree in EE in 1967, back when some classes were still teaching how to design electronic circuits containing vacuum tubes. Thirteen years later I received a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering because I found ME to be more interesting and in line with what I wanted to accomplish. Since 1967, EE has advanced so much more than ME, I truly believe it may be the most difficult engineering curriculum.
I received a BS in Nuclear Engineering in 1969, with a "minor" or emphasis in Electrical Engineering. I was caught in the transition from vacuum tubes to transistors when taking Electronics I and II. I didn't have to take Electronics III. I had Circuit Theory I, II, and III, which I assume didn't change much with the transition to transistors. Nuclear Engineering at Kansas State had begun as an offshoot of Chemical Engineering, and both required 148 semester hours for the BS in those days. So some considered them the hardest simply because it was normally a 4 1/2 year curriculum. The other engineering majors required 136 semester hours, still a pretty good class load. After service in the Army I went back for an MS and Ph. D. in Nuclear Engineering with a minor in Mechanical Engineering. The graduate level fluid flow and heat transfer classes in Mechanical Engineering required as much math as the Nuclear Engineering classes. That was where the mechanical engineers learned about partial differential equations (think heat conduction and Navier-Stokes equations) and Monte Carlo simulation (think transport [movement and interaction] of photons primarily in the thermal radiation spectrum). The hardest class I ever took was a graduate level seminar in two phase flow, which was taught from the proceedings of a recent conference on that topic. There were quite a variety of papers in the conference proceedings covering a combination of theory and application. Trying to understand all those papers without the benefit of a few years of actual work in the field was very difficult for me. In terms of what I perceive to be today's curricula, I think EE might be the hardest in terms of things like design and manufacturing of very large integrated circuits. That requires an understanding of large numbers of interconnected transistor circuits, which I assume requires a decent mastery of mathematics as well as a good understanding of engineering materials from both a chemical and physical viewpoint, and of manufacturing processes. I have seen comments on other UA-cam videos about engineering curricula that believe that aeronautical engineering is also very demanding and I can understand that viewpoint too.
@@JeffRyman69 I have a BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering and I tend to agree. EE is a bit of a hobby to me as we only had to take one or EE classes for our BSME and have learned way more about it after my formal education. Intermediate Heat Transfer and Intermediate Fluid Mechanics really ramps things up in grad school. Frankly, I would never advise someone who hates math to get into Engineering. Not that everyone in Engineering is a math wiz, but you need to be able to handle it. Aeronautical Engineering is very closely related to ME except you get a bit more specific with aerodynamics and other related topics. It's a few different elective classes compared to pure ME.
Electrical Engineering is the perfect blend of Mathematics and Physics. Being a graduate in EE, I'd say it was definitely not easy to complete the course... We had to put in a lot of time & effort to understand concepts (probably higher than other engineering majors). However, it was really fun domain to study! Although I'm now working in data science, the values and discipline i learned in those years are really coming handy in my career now.
I would say, that the older you get and just spend more time thinking about the concepts, you gain so much more intuitive knowledge about it. Recent grads have the knowledge fresh in their minds, but often lack that intuition.
@rcatv7750 computer engineers focus more on architecture and code, they do so by removing multivariable calculus and replacing it with discrete math. And also remove analog electronics courses and replacing them with architecture classes
My undergraduate degree was Engineering Physics - basically a physics degree plus an engineering minor. Not many universities offer it I think. In my case I chose electrical engineering as a minor. I love fields and waves and waveguides and lasers, etc. Another thing to consider is that EE means different things to different people: fields and waves and propagation, communication and information theory, power systems, circuits, ... All these differ in what kind and how hard the math is.
Interesting. At my uni, engineering physics is all of an EE degree except for 2 compE classes and 1 power systems class. It’s also all of a physics degree except for a few labs and physics electives, and it requires a lot of quantum mechanics. I love it and I wouldn’t trade it for anything!
This makes me feel better. Currently in year four of my EE major and I feel like I’m always doing school work and I’m a TA for electrical fundamentals and I have almost no free time. Thanks for making this video and now I see all of these other people with a similar experience and now they are thriving
In my opinion, the reason electrical engineering is harder is that it's more abstract than most others. You have to imagine many things that in other majors you can actually see, you cannot see electrons running on a wire after all, nor you can see electrical fields, you have to imagine them while you can see a mechanical machine working. Math is not harder than in other engineering but it's kind of more abstract, for example we use a lot of complex numbers routinely, linear algebra, transforms (Laplace, Fourier), Vector analysis.
@@lordsauron4556 EE is more than electrical current, you have electrical and magnetic fields, which live in 4 dimensions and you cannot see them at all, we can all see a river flowing. I think mechanical engineering is as hard as electrical though.
@@lordsauron4556 aerospace and relativity to account for in designs? i thought Newton's laws were enough for aerospace since we are not any close to light speed yet.🤣 We learn something everyday.
@@chadabercrombie6860Depends on the person. Aeronautical engineering is sort of just MechE with a cherry on top, the majors are very similar. The vast majority of jobs in this field within the aerospace industry are taken by mechanical engineers anyway.
I hope that anyone seeing this video (and it is a good video) and is interested in electrical engineering, or any other engineering for that matter, would not get discouraged from pursuing knowledge in this field. I think every student can achieve success in this field when paired with the right resources, study habits and determination. I think the author of this channel provides a very valuable service by presenting the multitude of resources that are available for the study of math, engineering, physics, etc.
I agree with that 100%. I started as a mechanical engineering major and then double majored in electrical and mechanical engineering. Without a doubt, the math is extremely intense in electrical engineering. Especially when you get to Field Theory, and even harder still when you get to information theory and communication theory. Computing the entropy of language and other systems is wild math. I later did my masters in Electrical Engineering in signal processing and AI. The math got even wilder. If there is one thing that is certain after that: I learned differential equations like it was my job. Hell, I can still model and do differential equations 15 years out of grad school. And all that math helped me learn the skills that I then used to gain nearly 25 patents.
not sure about difficulty but as an EE myself, I can confidently say that electrical has the widest range of topics and applications of all engineering disciplines. you can make a living doing completely different things with this degree as a foundation: software (C, Python, MATLAB), hardware (ASIC, UVM), embedded, RF/Microwave (antenna), communications (satellite), PCB (design/fabrication), power lines (ADC/DAC), EV (battery, control system), etc. the list just goes on and on, and frankly the hardest thing for undergrads like me is choosing a concentration :]
This is crazy! I have the 5th edition of this book and I was just looking at it earlier and then this video popped up! I never formally studied electrical engineering (I'm currently studying computer science as a career change) but I always have tinkered with electricity and electronics since I can remember. I bought this book to get a deeper understanding of how actual electrical engineering works. Btw I love your videos and I love math! Thanks for sharing!
I received my bachelor (1981) and masters (1982) degree in Electrical Engineering. When I was in college most considered chemical engineering was the most difficult engineering field. My father and brother were chemical engineers. I suppose the idea of which field is most difficult depends on each individual, what their interests and talents are.
@@haidara77 I have two sons that got degrees in civil engineering. They are doing well in their respective employment. I can’t say which field of engineering is more difficult, as that truly depends on your interests.
I am an EE and I also consider chemical engineering to be the most difficult--only because I don't have any interest in chemistry! I would certainly struggle through those courses!! I don't know what it is, I just can't fully wrap my head around chemistry.
BSEE 1982 here. I agree. I remember that chemical and/or petroleum engineering were harder than EE. The normal wash-out process was: Chemical engineering => Electrical => Mechanical => Business majors => Communications => Sports medicine => Education => Division of undergraduate studies => McDonalds.
I have a degree in EE , and I’m not sure I agree with EE being the hardest ( as I have never studied other engineering course ) , but I’d agree that it’s what most people think . Back in college people would be very impressed when I told them what my major was , “ electrical is the worst course ! You guys don’t have a life “ . I saw several people from other courses try to take EE as a minor , and then quit in ECE 101 , because they said it would hurt their gpa . I’ve also heard people say that ECE 101 , being the most basic EE course , was the hardest in courses like industrial engineering. As to the concepts covered in the course , I think electrical circuits can be somewhat tricky, because even though the math is not so complex , there’s a very specific logic to it , and I myself found it hard at the beginning … but ended up understand it after a lot of hard work . People find it hard because it’s very abstract , you cannot see a transistor switching with your eyes , or current flowing like you’d see a cars engine working , for it is all microscopic. And the hardest part is dealing with electromagnetism , because it involves vector calculus , and I agree that it’s very hard ( at least for me ) . But I think it’s a really amazing major , and think you shouldn’t be intimidated by the challenges ! I definitely recommend it to anyone who wishes to try it !
You'd think a chemistry major would be just as hard because it also deals with the microscopic. It also seems to be a broader subject, but maybe chemistry has less intensive math.
@@ruleaus7664Alchemists had to figure out the structure of the periodic table by putting rocks into fires, and mixing chemicals together and observing the reactions with their eyes. As an electrical engineer I find chemical engineering to be on the verge of witchcraft.
My education was in Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering. Chemical Engineering can be considered difficult because some aren't that thrilled with chemistry. Also they go quite deep into a subject called "Transport Phenomena" (Momentum, Heat and Mass transfer) which can get deep into applied math. However, I agree that Electrical is probably the hardest for most people. Both for the heavy dependence on math, as you pointed out, and also it deals with some difficult physics concepts like magnetic fields, etc.. It's just difficult to understand how electronics actually works sometimes. A popular book geared more towards practical electronics is "The Art of Electronics" by Thomas C. Hayes. However I get bogged down when I try to read it.
Yep, a lot of stuff in EE isn't intuitive and that's what makes it very difficult. At least with MechE you have an idea of how forces act on things because you experience them every day. A lot of electrical stuff is basically invisible or the only experience you have is turning on a switch or getting shocked. When the curriculum dumps imaginary numbers on you in the first week; you know you're in for a fun time.
I am electrical engineer. In the past worked for electrical contracting and consulting. Now, I am working for a power utility company, we take into account Transport Phenomena for the installation of power electrical equipment. To engineer (design) Power transformers and power cables mind blowing engineering. Oh... I forgot mention Quantum Physics to engineer electrical equipment. Since this year, I am learning Earthquake and more in-depth mechanical engineering for the electrical equipment installations because I am working in an Earthquake country.
@@joshescobar3065 Yes, the famous (to Chemical Engineers) Bird, Stewart and Lightfoot. I had the old red version in college. I think it's only been revised once, and I also have the newer version. The new version is probably a little friendlier to learn from. One of my professors did his graduate work at University of Wisconsin and had one of those authors as an advisor.
All engineering disciplines were far more difficult decades ago than today. I studied engineering in the 80s and finalized my BSEE in 2006. What a difference. Could you imagine designing circuits 60 years ago without the software available today?
As a person who has studied electrical, electronics & communication engineering in India, I can vouch for this fact that electrical/electronics engineering is definitely the hardest one of the lot. Infact, now that I have (barely managed and) completed it after finding it to be so tough that I sometimes regret not going in for a different engineering major like computer science or IT or even civil or mechanical engineering that probably wouldn't have been half as tough but still be able to fetch more jobs than there are in electrical engineering. And the reason that it is so tough is because unlike mechanical or civil, electronics is not what can be easily visualised and also unlike computers or IT, electrical is so much more math intensive and that too maths that is typically not taught before a higher college degree in mathematics itself. Stuff like Laplace transforms, control systems with their 'j' and 's', Fourier Transforms, Z transforms, discrete fourier transforms etc can all be a bouncer to the uninitiated. Something that I took home by doing electronics engineering is the realisation that maths is indeed the language of physics and engineering, especially electrical engineering, and that one should not even attempt to study those subjects unless he is first 'fluent' in that language of maths itself. Stuff like laplace transforms and fourier transforms are the constructs of grammar for that language that one should be first well versed with.
I have a multidisciplinary engineering degree in electrical and mechanical engineering. I would say the depth of math is trivial - meaning the integrals or ODEs aren't necessary difficult. It's knowing the engineering principles, formulas and applying the math to solving problems. For instance, in my deformable solids course we would solve a 4th order ODE by integration. The hardest part was identifying boundary conditions in the system. In controls you need to know Laplace transforms, work in the Laplace domain and state space representation. Laplace isn't hard but state space requires a different way of thinking. Identifying state variables and using a linear combination of the state variables is the hardest part. The rest is linear algebra and solvable with a calculator/MATLAB if your professor is nice.
I got a degree in chem eng. We had a course in process control. I was able to expand on this and electromagnetism by reading EE text books. I got interested in industrial automation and was able to apply it. I also got into building guitar amps and effects. Got into programming too. Working at a papermill forces engineers to learn power systems since mills generate electricity on site. Many opportunities to learn at a paper/pulp mill. It was all hard but it was also fascinating. As far as hard, seemed like chem eng and EE were the top contenders. In the end, any engineering degree is challenging. Not many people are capable or are driven enough to earn an engineering degree. So be thankful for being gifted enough to enjoy the challenge.
I'm an electronic engineer and hava DSc in Control and Automation. It is the same base as electrical engineering but adding a LOT of non-linear elements (like transistors). Even though we linearize most of the circuits, some are based on these non linearities, which make the math even harder...
Hi where are you based and how is the career prospect, I too am a electronics engineer planning to pursue a PG diploma in applied motion and control management?
Control Systems gotta be the hardest degree of all time. It is heavily math based. There is not only the Laplace transform but on top of that bayesian statistics, on top of that there is optimisation and even an advanced version of that, variationnal calculus. And worst thing is that all of that is not with scalars but with matrices. Like you end up with a problem where you have matrices of Laplace transforms with uncertainities (bayesian statistics), you want to find the optimal control (variationnal calculus). And worse you get PhD levels mathematicals concepts like parity space, mu-synthesis, fractionnal order differential equations, etc as introduction for new classes. The matrices you are dealing with are so hard to keep track of that you can barely do anything without using Matlab. And i even didn't get into the bode plots the nyquist plots the singular value plot. And goddamn it QFT control. Even our teacher was telling while doing the QFT control that it was requiring all his 20 years of expérience to pull it off
I work as Electrical Engineer. I have to know materials for the selection of electrical equipment and installations in different installation conditions. Now, you know Electrical Engineering.
I’m an electrical engineering student at Rutgers. I am a junior. Although you may see videos or tutorials that seem so advanced and complicated you have no idea what’s going on, I promise you that becoming an electrical engineer is possible. It takes time and dedication, but any human being can do the work and learn TONS of information. When you live the language of EE, it becomes second nature and doesn’t seem so bad after all.
I do electronics engineering because I really enjoy it. Nothing is really 'hard' when you enjoy it. It's certainly difficult, but I'm not sure how it ranks.
0:30: 📚 Electrical engineering is considered the hardest engineering major, and a recommended book for learning electrical engineering is 'Electrical Engineering Principles and Applications' by Allen R Hamley. 3:58: 📚 This video reviews a book on electrical engineering that covers topics such as laws of resistive circuits, inductance, capacitance, and steady-state sinusoidal analysis. 6:00: 💡 Electrical engineering is considered the hardest major due to the extensive mathematics involved. Recap by Tammy AI
Computer engineering isn't even close to being in the same league as far as difficulty. EE is in a world of its own. ChemE ain't no joke either, but even it pales in comparison to the difficulty of EE. I got a MechE degree which wasn't too bad then followed it up a few years later with a Computer Eng degree. The CE degree was a breeze compared to MechE.
EE were always working. No social life. They were always breaking down, freaking out. Some crying from stress. The math was beyond anything the other majors did. Civil Eng were partying every weekend and goofing off.
I am a business major who enjoys studying and comprehending the universe in my spare time. I have over a ton of various books that I bought for really cheap, and I really love Design of Machinery by Norton. I have learned so much from this book about linkages and various mechanical parts and how to analyze them. Keep on making videos about engineering textbooks!
My school didn't have engineering, but I would have thought nuclear engineering would be harder then electrical or mechanical. To be fair, I don't know how much overlap there is between them. I also remember people dual majoring in mechanical and electrical engineering at another university.
This makes me feel a bit better. I just started going back to college and I just completed my first semester. I decided to take an IT class to dip my toes back into taking classes. We did some projects with arduino’s that discussed the basics of electrical engineering. It was by far the most difficult part of this class. I thought I wasn’t very smart and that’s why I was struggling. So it’s good to know that it’s even considered difficult amongst other engineering degrees.
Out of all the Scientist, I always admired James Clerk Maxwell, the Scottish Scientist that created the science of electromagnetism, with a very high esteem. All modern electronics, including the computer, we owe to him. Thank Sorcerer! The Math Sorcerer makes exploring math fun!
Ah yes, Maxwell the GOAT. Idk how he could came up with those equations, he also haven't proved his statements regarding the correlation between electric and magnetic field, yet when someone did try to prove it, he was actually right!
Truly, academic pressure isn't a worry for me, I know I can do anything, but instead it's my home life and discovering that the people around me willingly want to distract me and discourage me. In small towns like mine, your life must be linear (and mine hasn't been) so everyone wishes to see me in reprobate. I need one more semester and the attacks on my life are getting very serious. It's true, people will envy anything, even a new mindset.
When I was in school some 10 years ago, EE was considered the hardest major in terms of content. However, in terms of workload, it was biomechanical engineering that was considered to be the hardest. Depending on the concentration, biomech required an extra 8-15 credits beyond what EE required.
I studied a lot of electrical engineering at college, even though I was doing a computer science degree. This was back in the day when a computer science degree curriculum expected you to be able to build one as well as program one. Laplace transforms I found to be an excellent and reasonably simple method to solve equations that would be hard to do other ways and often the equations for a circuit could easily be moved into the Laplace domain, messed with and moved back again. It has helped me a lot over the years being able to both program and design hardware. My career path has involved both hardware and software for most of the last 30 something years.
EE grad here (UIUC-‘00) . EE and ChemE were widely regarded as the contenders for toughest engineering majors. Do a video on advanced electromagnetics and you’ll see how tough it gets. Good luck out there-the 🧠 muscles were worth the 🔥 burn!
We did LaPace in Mechanical Engineering because we had a 300 level controls class and lab we were required to take in Mechanical. We also had two semesters of electrical circuits and two labs. Our Mechanical degree was much more comprehensive than most. We had to breadboard circuits and test them as well as PSPICE the theoretical.
Electrical/Computer Engineering and computer science gotta be the group of hardest Engineering majors. You might be thinking Computer science? It’s not what it seems, you still have to take up to calc 3, physics 2 chem2, statistics, linear algebra, and discrete math. Computer science is far from just programming or coding. Think of CS as an engineer that can work on cars, airplanes, roads, buildings… and the programers and coders being the construction workers. Thats because you’ll learn software engineering, data science, AI, computer graphics, machine learning, Cyber security, neural learning, self driving vehicles, bioinformatics, deep learning, robotics, compilers, networks and many more. To survive in CS you have to be able to picture the invisible or at least think 10 steps ahead, because pretty much everything is non tangible. That being said and from my experience CS is harder because at least in the math classes you have proofs and can plug numbers into a calculator to check your answer(yes even up to calc 3 if you get the intergal down into the simplest form)
I used the Hambley text in my "EE for non-EE majors" course. (I was Materials Science and Engineering.) And I agree that it was an excellent text. Very clean and clear. A great text for non-EE engineers to learn the basics of EE for use in their own projects (e.g. powering a mechanical system) and for communicating with EEs. I used the exact edition you show here, around the time it came out, saved it, and have returned to it for refreshing over the years.
I love electronics and electrical math so much. Had a friend got through EE he said it was like having to be kicked in the jeuvos everyday but he made it through.
I think Robotics Engineering if taught correctly is by far THE hardest Engineering major. You take all the maths heavy classes from both Mechanical and Electrical streams, you need a polymath mindset to utilise different subjects such as computer science, AI, material science, control theory as well as all the practical projects base workload too. During final year, once you've learnt all these foundations, you take specialised courses such as screw theory, optimal control, soft robotics, reinforcement learning which requires many pre-requisites. Not to mention the opportunity to learn other subjects such as neuroscience, psychology, or biology based subjects.
As a CS student, I like Robotics Engineering type subjects. Not sure why we dont get to learn stuff like signal processing, control theory, and whatnot.
Robotics is nowhere close to pure EE and ME degrees. You just dont get to learn about systems and signals, EM waves, antennas, wireless comunication systems and etc. Those are absolutely brutal parts of EE degree.
Robotics is a part of Electrical Engineering, that is if you took the Control Engineering path as the interdisciplinary of EE (in my campus, at least). So i'd still say that Electrical Engineering would still be the hardest, because you had to learn the basics of Telecommunication (Such as Electromagnetics, Signal and Systems), Control Systems, Electrical Power System, Circuit Analysis, Machine Learning, Nanoelectronics, etc.
Well, I think computer engineering is the hardest major. It shares a lot of material with electrical engineering, as well as all computer science courses. Furthermore, computer engineers must take all the engineering courses that Computer Science students don't take such as Physics 1 and 2 and Calculus 1, 2 and 3., Differential equations, numerical analysis, linear algebra, chemistry (I don't know why a computer engineering student would study chemistry 😂), probability and statistics, discrete mathematics, Etc. So yes, computer engineering can be the toughest engineering major.
You must check your comment, if CS don't need to learn Physics 1 and 2 and Calculus 1, 2 and 3., Differential equations, numerical analysis, linear algebra then what do you think CS are doing the first 2 year??
Electrical Engineering undergrad here! Finished uni in 4 years & planning to upgrade on a MSc level once I start working. I'm quite passionate with my studying field, because I always like to keep my mind sharpened. Plus, it's also quite nice to try & create new inventions.
To give an idea of how hard EE/Computer Engineering is. I decided to leave EE my sophomore year of college to do something that was far easier in terms of homework time and mental agony - medicine. Am a happy radiologist now. Some of that stuff comes in handy when learning the physics of imaging.
BSEE and MSEE here. I saw more EE’s pulling all nighters completing projects and homework than any other major. I saw some mechanicals in computer labs late at night, but no other engineering majors were crashing lecture halls at the middle of the night to study. No one in any engineering major actually used the library on campus because it was more of a social gathering for non STEM majors and simply too loud or crowded. I never saw a football game or had time for holiday breaks. Professors didn’t care about leisure time or time with family. However it was an experience I’d do again if I had to.
Before you counter with another major, just remember that electrical engineering is the study of pure Electromagnetic physic plus advanced mathematics to create systems or devices. A lot of people only tend to see the fun side of designing electronic circuits in blocs with small calculations without realizing the much bigger area of complexity it covers when dealing with waves, light, heat and other elements through mathematics😂
ME here (BS, 2003; MS 2005). I think the top three (in no particular order) would be CE, ME and EE. Note that ME is the broadest (Aerospace, Industrial and Systems are all offshoot of ME) of the Engineering disciplines. Fourier Analysis and Tensor Calculus were not walks in the park!
It hit me when he said EEs do homework all the time on the floor with no AC, I didn't just feel that I remembered it 😖. I was always maxxed out and busy as an EE, I though that was normal until I talk to other majors. I still love it because we are so practical and hands on. I say that you should not learn EE through a text book alone. Labs are the most important. Learn what and how instruments work. Do labs on the DMM, Oscilloscope, Spectrum Analyzer, Waveform Generator, and Network Analyzer. Labs on foundational circuits, making PCBs, Schematics, and micro controllers. As an EE I did not realize we were one of the hardest but it does makes sense.
Actually this is my favorite course, I love it so much and it appears so easy to me and I enjoyed to work with those exercises so much that I found I need more challenging. When it comes the first midterm, I never expected more than half of the classmates fail, I was easily get over 90 without hard work. That was the best experience I’ve had.
I'm a computer engineer, meaning I got software and electrical engineering. I focused more in programming but I got enough of Circuits 1 to recognize 3/4 of the chapter headers in that book. Now im programming and verifying FPGAs, reading 15 datasheets and diagrams to figure out exactly what the designers want me to do. I've actually solved a few op-amp circuits because I was not given proper documentation as to their expected output, curse them. It reminded me just how crushing KCL and KVL was to study and use. Throw in a buck/boost converter and some bespoke IC power conditioning and my programming flow suddenly has to think very hard.
Im taking Computer Engineering rn, its super hard and head banging experience. Reading the datasheets, using Verilog, and more has gotten me quite confused. I congratulate you for your resiliency!
I graduated from UCLA with an electrical engineering degree. I have to agree that the math was insane especially those EE courses dealing with electromagnetics and antenna theory.
As an EE myself. EE is NOT the most difficult form of engineering IMO. I would say chemical, and any engineer that doesn't get to round friction to zero in fluid mechanics has a tougher time than me. I work in aerospace, and I consider myself grateful for not having to worry about airflow or material tolerances.
I am majoring right now in EE. Right now I'm in 'supposedly' the hardest class in EE, ElectroMagnetics; it's so fun. There are plenty of specific disciplines in EE; Power, Signals, Biomedical, etc. I am in the discipline of Power, and I am doig so well in all the heavy math courses, I do NOT enjoy coding/computer assembly. It is rewarding when you solve it and get the project working, but it's not fun for me. I will say I think it's cool using microcontrollers and inputting pins and coding, but it's trial and error. Math all the way. The equations TELL you what's going on. Thank you prof so making me feel good watching your vids and always sharing knowledge.
As a EE I would have to say there are other, harder, degrees. Aerospace, biomed, maybe chemical come to mind. Calculus and diff-equ was required but only really used in the electromagnetics course.
Seems you are not doing real Electrical Engineering in life. I am Electrical Engineer. My question to you, do you know the engineering needed to design and manufacture Power Transformer and power cables? mind blowing engineering mate...
@@Surge_Arrester I was referring to what was required in my EE program. Granted it has been 50 years so my information may be a little out of date, but math beyond basic algebra/trig wasn't a major part of any EE course with the exception of electromagnetics. Which isn't to say that some applications of EE don't require significant application of mathematics.
I was a Journeyman electrician before deciding to go back to school. I'm working on my masters in Statistics now, but when I'm done it's a goal of mine to go through a book like this and learn some of these electrical engineering concepts in more depth. I got to work with some very cool industrial systems as an electrician and would love to learn about how it all works more in depth than I was able to with just an electrical journeyman certificate. Thanks for the recommendation!
I am pretty sure you are going to do well in this self study. As you already have a heavy background in maths, I just recomend you to give differential equations a review before start to study AC circuits, transient analysi, and frequency response (not sure if I used the right terms in english here, I hope you got the idea). Good luck man, you won't regret it, that's an one way path!
How old are you and what made you want to get your masters in statistics? I have a degree in software development and am thinking about getting my masters in data analytics, but the highest math I took was college algebra, and college statistics so I’m not sure if I’ll need more maths.
@@johansen8989 I'm 31 and started my degree at 27 after working in camp jobs in northern Alberta for 8 years. I just wanted out of the shift work and being cold and to "do something more with my life" before I got too old kind of thing. I was originally going to do electrical engineering (because it made sense to go from electrician to electrical engineer in my head), but shy'd away from it because I didn't want to be tempted into working up north again where the money is better. I started looking for other careers that involve math and stats kind of just won my heart almost immediately. Now I live by the ocean and do stats all day, I love it. My guess is the data analytics masters would involve getting used to some linear algebra, probability and statistics so you understand what you're coding. I think you would be just fine with your background in software development. If the program is going to require you to learn the theory at an advanced level, they will have calculus, linear algebra, math probability, math stats, etc, as prerequisites.
Lol resistors are the easy part, passive components in AC are why they quit in junior year. We are forced to learn complex algebra without taking the actual course when the math course itself is a senior level math.
In my personal opinion, Control Engineering is one of the maths-heavy branches of engineering. Robust and Optimal control is one of the hardest courses (check the book by Zhou and Doyle "Robust and Optimal Control"). Geometric nonlinear control theory is one other hardest course, involving smooth manifolds, Lie brackets, distributions, foliations, differential forms and all the good stuff. Book by A.Isidori "Nonlinear Control Systems" is possibly the most beginner-friendly intro to the subject I've seen. There are many more exciting subjects in the field. And all of that is taught during master's. I come to a conclusion one must be exceptionally good with mathematics to actually be able to read and understand the stuff. Books are mostly definitions and theorems, with some additional explanations and interpretations given along the way, bits of practical advice as well. And it requires a good amount of practice to get the actual intuition/skills for how to use all of these advanced tools. Basic proof-reading/writing skills are a must to understand anything. Programming (at least in matlab) and mathematical modelling are a must to get anything done. Understanding of numerical methods (and preferably accuracy and stability of these) is also needed to understand which ode solvers and numerical linear algebra algorithms are good for what purpose. Tough, but extremely exciting. P.S. That is a pretty long comment, and it seems like I barely scratched the surface of that huge iceberg. There is System Identification, Model Reduction, which are explored rather well for linear systems and are still an active area of research for nonlinear systems. There are also complex systems (say, many dynamical systems interacting with each other), and some graph theory is used there. Takagi-Sugeno Fuzzy systems is also a very promising approach for control of nonlinear systems. Model-Predictive control. **Not to mention, almost arbitrary combination of some of the above methods have also been explored.** And the list goes on and on and on.
control engineering is a branch of EE,3 main branch of EE is EET(electric technology),AT(automation and control),ICT(infomation-communication technology)
John Bird's series of books on mathematics, engineering and science are good to get started. I recommend "Bird's Comprehensive Engineering Mathematics" and his "Electrical Circuit Theory and Technology". Between the two of them, you'll be well on the way. For electronics, "Grob's Basic Electronics" by Mitchel E. Schultz and Thomas L. Floyd's "Electronic Devices" are really good. Hambley (the book reviewed here) was my first year introductory text and is a solid choice as a beginner text. For circuit analysis, there's Boylestad's "Introductory Circuit Analysis". For the less mathematically capable, there is a book by Magno Urbano "Introductory Electrical Engineering with Math Explained in Accessible Language". Good luck and stay safe, budding electrical engineers!🙂
I did my Masters in Electrical Engineering, but I'm probably in the minority as I didn't find it particularly difficult - except for one area and that was electromagnetism; for some reason it was and likely still is difficult to get my head around.
3rd year EE at Georgia Tech currently. Hard but good. This semester we did microelectronics, analog circuits, signals + systems, and embedded systems. Topics included everything from op-amp filter design to semiconductor doping calculations to Laplace and RTOS in C++. I don't think I've ever studied that hard in my life. I'm grateful to be doing EE, but it's tough and I sometimes want to quit.
Hi Math Sorcerer! Love your videos man. "Art of Electronics" is generally considered to be the best book to help people actually start to intuitively understand EE concepts. It reads like the text is actually talking to you and not just spitting equations right off the bat. Although while it still has plenty of examples it definitely won't make you a circuit analysis expert. I would love to hear from you how math has improved your life. I think a video on why people should study these things and how it can improve your life would do really well. All the best.
I got my degree in computer engineering. So I did about the first half of my undergrad pretty close to electrical before we diverged into computer architecture and shit like embedded systems or your electives like intelligent systems or whatever. Electrical engineers were glad they weren't computer engineers, and we were glad we weren't electrical engineers
There was a study done (The Role of Learning in Returns to College Major: Evidence from 2.8 Million Reviews of 150,000 Professors) by Dr Vitaliy Novi of George Washington University; U.S. Census Bureau, (November 12, 2022) that listed the hardest Engineering degrees. 1. Chemical Engineering 2. Aerospace Engineering 3. Electrical Engineering 4. Materials Engineering 5. Nuclear Engineering ... 12. Civil Engineering :)
Second year Electronics Engineering major here. I can tell you right now that anybody can get through engineering school, you don't have to be a super genius. But not everyone is built for it. Luckily, you will know very quickly if this is something you can see through. 1st year is about surviving, and about 30% of kids just drop out after it. But if you're not that 30%, and you feel like you're able to come back more prepared, you are absolutely capable of graduating. You have to be willing to put in a lot of work, but in my experience its not this 24/7 grind that people make it out to be. Including class & work, most week days i put 10-14 hours in, and on the weekends I barely do anything, sometimes a few hours a day. Also if you make friends, your time will be at least 10x better.
Presentation is very important. If electrical engineering courses are not taught in a way to account for different learning styles, some students will find it rather challenging.
Control theory, which is a sub-discipline of EE, is the hardest major. Edit: hardest “focus” or whatever terminology your institution uses. Usually ME and EE take one feedback control course in undergrad. Then in grad school you can focus on it (Lyapunov functions, nonlinear systems, optimal control, system id, …).
That wouldn't be an undergrad major though. You can get a graduate degree in it though. I wouldn't call it a subdiscipline of EE. I'm EE and I only took one Control Theory course but I think most of my classmates were ME. My coworker who has a Master's in Control Theory is ME.
Controls engineering is actually an undergraduate degree, what are you talking about? You can start learning about systems from junior level. But most don't because of the frustration when it doesn't work
Electrical engineering is hard to get an intuitive feel for, especially when it comes to stuff like analog electronics or electromagnetic compatibility -- it's all special case solutions to Maxwell's equations, but those are not exactly easy to wrap your head around either. I think we could do a better job teaching it. E.g., I found that using differential forms made things easier to keep in my head than using div, curl, and grad.
To be completely honest, it is definitely possible. I know lots of people who became engineers, tons, most are GOOD at math, but some are just ok. Good luck my friend:)
It's possible. I failed grade 12 math and got a C average in a community college associates level calculus course. 8 years later out of school I'm in a degree completion program in uni in an accelerated calculus course (4 weeks derivatives, 3 weeks integrals, 4 weeks differential equations). I'm at a B average now. Just keep working hard on those practice questions and be aware of the patterns.
When I was in my 3rd year of EE I lived with three roommates who were in the Aerospace discipline and got to tutor them on some of the mechanics of flow because we hard learned the calculus for divergence and curl of fields from field theory. For whatever reason their curriculum skipped these parts so they got to learn it from their bewildered EE roommate. 'Just close your eyes and imagine it's flux lines'
I studied Electrical, Civil, Bioprocess and Biotechnology Engineering and finally Agriculture Engineering. The other engineering courses looked like High School in comparison to Electrical. All the mathI learned in Electrical was useful at some point in the other engineering courses. Electrical is beautiful, one of the most beautiful courses but I fell in love with Meteorology in the Agriculture Engineering course. Meteorology uses a lot of math too.
I have worked as an engineer for 15 years and I can tell you that my background in electrical engineering was a great training ground for solving problems in other fields. Lots of people from my faculty went into finance, computer science, got PhDs, got MBAs or became really good specialty electrical engineers. Electrical engineering education is a gongshow or math, physics, chemistry and learning to follow standards and laws. This is great training for everything after you are done schooling.
This video is perfect example as to why I've been a lifelong student. I graduated ITT Tech in 07', and am currently working towards electrical and automotive certifications. As he was surfing the pages of his book. All the equations were like "i remember you". I'd have to agree, it's hard stuff. Hence, I've been studying it for YEARS and still feel like i don't know anything, because of how dense the materials are. It's not a "chapter by chapter" type book you read. These are equations we need to understand, how, why, and when, ect. there's always variables. depth, temperature, so many different areas. Diodes ALONE can have me occupied for time just understanding how they functions ect. Took me a few videos to understand ELIT THE ICE MAN. So simple, yet so complex. Tube is definitely a great resources to help simplify hard concepts, as well as AI now.
No engineering discipline can be judged as the hardest one. All the people in the comments who say it’s the hardest and then proceed to say that they have the degree have no idea what it’s like to be another type of engineer and thus don’t know how hard the other disciplines really are. For instance, I study mechanical engineering and there are plenty of topics like Fluid Mechanics that get very complicated mathematically and require a different kind of thinking to analysing a signal or a DC motor for example. As mechanical engineers we often dabble in electrical engineer and I have had to take lots of courses in electrical engineering. From what I’ve seen, the mechanical engineering undergrads tend to have a busier schedule than electrical. Also, we use complicated mathematics, just as complicated as electrical, to do with advanced calculus, complex numbers, DA, etc… often the stuff we deal with is more complicated with regards to vector analysis, etc… since it’s not just electrons moving along a wire, it could be a robotic arm moving through space, a turbine blade be in g struck by airflow, a rocket nozzle gas flow, etc… It’s ridiculous to say EE is the hardest one. They’re all hard, that’s why you have to get a degree to be an engineer! Anyone who thinks that theirs is the hardest is probably not well versed in engineering as a whole.
Electrical engineering is the hardest major. But when you want to specialise, then Control Systems is even harder. It is heavily math based. There is not only the Laplace transform but on top of that bayesian statistics, on top of that there is optimisation and even an advanced version of that, variationnal calculus. And worst thing is that all of that is not with scalars but with matrices. Like you end up with a problem where you have matrices of Laplace transforms with uncertainities (bayesian statistics), you want to find the optimal control (variationnal calculus). And worse you get PhD levels mathematicals concepts like parity space, mu-synthesis, fractionnal order differential equations, etc as introduction for new classes. The matrices you are dealing with are so hard to keep track of that you can barely do anything without using Matlab.
As an engineer, I would have to go with control engineering. It doesn't have to be electrical. There are pneumatic and mechanical controls but nowadays it is primarily electrical, either analog or digital.
Civil Engineering is the most difficult Engineering it has the most subjects. It has the most theories. It has the most exams. It has the longest road map to be a professional
I did Electrical/Computer engineering bachelors. The classes are hard and you need to study a lot. I did literally no partying, and would study from early morning to late night. But on the flip side the grades are curved a lot. Even though you kinda know a curve will occur, its still not guaranteed so the stress is still there.
There is only ONE engineering major that can compete for the title of the hardest engineering major, and it's not even close: AERO-ASTRO An aero-astro engineer needs to learn EVERYTHING. Literally ALL OTHER types of engineering. An incredibly hard and stressful major.
I got a BSEE from the UC system in 1978 and went on to have a great career in Silicon Valley. I would suggest, vs your comments in the video, that modern electrical engineering isn't done on calculators, it's done on computers. While the book might not have solutions, it does have examples of using SPICE so using simulations should get the student to the right solutions and will probably provide a better understanding of transients. Just my 2 cents. I've enjoyed your book picks and have purchased both the intermediate algebra and calculus books. I think I'll look for a copy of this one next.
For others who might look around I snagged a 5th edition copy on Ebay for $11 + shipping. Total less than $18. The 6th edition was going to be over $30. For my needs I'm sure the differences WRT basic electrical engineering won't matter.
We did learn that basic electrical stuff in first year. At my school I would argue mechanical engineering is harder. It depends on the professors I think. Our school had very good but also relaxed electrical professors that graded fairly where as the mechanical profs were typically poor yet also graded hard. Mechanical had the lowest number of *With Distinctions* and Electrical had the second highest after software at graduation. I counted. While not conclusive, it certainly provides a quantification to my assertion. That being said I'm sure schools are different.
EE grad here, I took it because I wanted to take the hardest course to prove myself lol . Now I’m in software development because there is way more money there.
For general undergraduate education, I can see EE being the hardest and Civil/Environmental Engineering being the easiest (sorry but there’s a reason why so many people choose the civil engineering EIT exam). Nuclear engineering can be challenging because you need a little more physics than other engineering fields and certain aspects of nuclear engineering overlap into other engineering fields . At the graduate and research level, you cannot really compare the engineering fields due to the overlap of the fields and difficulty of specific areas of science. At the PhD level, engineers in different fields should have the similar math and physics mastery. A nuclear engineer would study plasmas for fusion applications, while a chemical or electrical engineer would study plasmas for a coating process. An aerospace or mechanical engineer would study plasmas for hypersonic flight.
Im in circuits analysis 1 right now. I’m a mechanical engineering major thank god lol. I failed the first two exams. I finally got my studies down and then recently got a 98 % on a recent exam. We are going to go over Laplace transforms next! I think I can pass! Just have the Final to go! This class has taught me how to study. I never studied like this before so far. I think Electrical, Chemical and Aerospace are the hardest engineering majors.
@@desklamp701 after the last failed exam, I prepared and took notes on the lecture slides before the lecture, did ALL the hwk, look at other lectures/videos on the same topics, asked the professor questions and my buddies. The best was when I prepared for the lectures and did the example problems before going to class, it’s like I had specific questions to ask about a problem and it was more like a review because i already spent time “digesting” the content. It’s impossible at this point in my engineering major to just go to class and expect to understand the lectures. I have to prepare for the lectures and have notes already written down so I can 100% focus on the lecture and have intellectual questions.
I studied EE but had a lot of friends in all of the other engineering disciplines (except aerospace, we did not have a program for that). It was a bit of a tossup with a small sample size but EE and ChemE was easily in the top 2 for hardest engineering disciplines based on comparing our coursework. The overall consensus was the more abstract the coursework the more difficult it was. Electromagnetism and a lot of the mathematics involved can't be interacted macroscopically or visualized intuitively, which adds to the difficulty.
Columbia University grad here. I did a BS in Chemical Metallurgy. Mix of Chemical Engineering, Mining Engineering, Material Science and specialized in Electrometallurgy. So I had to also be familiar with Electrical Engineering applications, magnetic fields, circuits, harmonics, and electrochemistry, I have done microwaves, electrical transmission, batteries, along with geochemistry, petrochemical engineering and environmental engineering in my 40 years as an engineer. The most important lesson is that all engineering is based on similar principles. Learn the underlying theory and you can learn enough in any discipline to be successful. For EEs its the math. For Chem Es its Chemistry that are the most complex and challenging to master.
Im a Computer Engineering undergrad major right now, initially seclared electrical but redeclared because i enjoy working with comouter circuits and design with digital systems enough to do that. Both majors are nearly identical in coursework at my University. The prime differences is Electrical dives into EM waves radiation etc more while Computer dives into more Comp Sci. I like the general field and STEM as a whole. I remember being told Electrical was one of the hardest engineering majors my my learning advisor lol. Computer isn't much different, but is certainly cleaner since I optionally can take the more electrical classes for electives. Math is heavier for electrical than computer as well. They hit all four undergrad calc classes in their first two years at my University (BYU). Meanwhile CE we only hit calc 1, 2, and ordinary differential equations. Multivariable is a very much EE area of calculus. In fact to emphasize the mixing. We go by the ECEN department. Electrical Computer Engineering.
Let's say that in electrical engineering, you need those mathematical topics (depending where the focus of the university is because it's impossible to cover all electrical engineering in a master degree) : - all calculus classes are mandatory - differential equations - fourier series - laplace, fourier and z transforms - linear algebra (not the basic course, the advanced one) - complex analysis - numerical analysis - optimization - PDEs* - real analysis (not measure theory)* - number theory* Those marked with a star depend on some very specific topics. PDEs are more for electromagnetic fields studies in an electrical machine for example. Real analysis would be for a more advanced control or dynamical systems analysis course. Number theory for cryptography. I may have forgotten something because there is so much needed...
I'm doing ee and i think what helped me was doing hobby electronics with small and power amplifiers. The hobby got to a point that it was probably not hobby anymore. So then majoring in ee many things fell into place.
Electrical engineering school is no joke, but chemical engineering is by far the hardest. The curriculum involves not only advanced mathematics but also biology and physics. That may not sound like much but trust me, it's like having to become a doctor and an engineer at the same time. Interesting fact, a large % of chemical engineers (and biochemical) that drop out settle for becoming medical doctors, then re-attempt chemical engineering later.
What I remember about undergrad engineering was that we were always in the library studying, while the business majors were out at the bar every night.
And all that for someone with a business degree to be your boss.
I heard a lot of that also in the medical field. Business grads were telling nurses and other health care workers how to do their jobs. @@ruleaus7664
@@ruleaus7664lol no good engineers with management skills get management jobs not someone who knows nothing about engineering
@@daheinz27 lmao found the student with no job experience
@@daheinz27 Sadly that isn't always true, especially in the big companies.
Electrical engineering student here. What I love most about EE, is that while all engineering majors at my university will take the core mathematics classes, EE is the only one that will immediately take almost all of these topics and apply them to circuit analysis, signal processing etc… it makes math far more enjoyable. As an example you’d come across early on, when you begin learning the Laplace transform and suddenly apply it to reactive components, you magically dodge the horrific differential equations you’d otherwise have to solve in a high order circuit. But then, you realise that this domain, which used to (untransformed) relate output to time, can now plot frequency. You see that a clever arrangement of capacitors and inductors allows you to capture certain frequencies and suddenly you have a frequency-selective filter, the building block of radio communication and so much more . What’s that? An annoying hiss being picked up in the speaker that’s picking up a sound signal? Apply a Fourier transform and single it out. Then, in vector calculus you’ll learn about line integrals, force fields, divergence, curl… Next semester Maxwells equations describe electromagnetics using these very concepts in what anyone else would consider magic. As challenging as it is, the math and physics within EE is the most beautiful thing I’ve come across in my entire academic journey. This looks like a great book, however, what is undoubtedly the best book for introductory EE is “Electric Circuits” by Nilsson and Riedel. It’s extremely fundamental, covers tons of math (including but not limited to almost everything I’ve spoken about here), and explains topics better than most professors by just reading through it. Seriously, I would skip classes just to work from the book as it was a better use of my time.
Yay I love the Nillson and Riedel book. My professor almost co authored it a while back. Now he just contributed to it by giving them some source transformations that they didn’t have present before. It’s a great book, and I think my professor loves it and he’s been teaching circuit analysis for 30+ years. He made his own textbook as a matter of fact but still recommends us to solve the problems in that text
I remember Nilsson & Riedel book, iconic
which edition do you recommend?
@@guack1453Always waiting for this response as I’m looking to order it off amazon.
Sadiku > Riedel :)
Hey Math Sorcerer! I actually took your Calculus I class in real life two years ago and am now studying Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Tech. It's very hard but the skills I learned in your class and in your videos have helped me greatly.
Hey, congrats and all the best to you. An acquaintance of mine is also studying aerospace at georgia tech
What a great story.
I'm applying to Georiga Tech this year, I really hope to study there
I’n graduating from GT this year. Can’t wait to get out!
AEROSPACE engineer here: Sorry to call your prof out but its BULLSHlT that electrical engineering is the hardest. Its not close to either aerospace or nuclear engineering.
Due to various outcomes I have spent most of my career in industrial control systems and automation. So I have done a fair amount of electrical engineering and know what it is and isn't.
WHAT MAKES Aerospace and Nuclear engineering so much harder is the additional maths classes needed to get the required skills to do things like (in my case) aerodynamics, propulsion, orbital mechanics and the hardest class I ever took *Spacecraft Dynamics.*
I don't know how far you are into your degree but if you like I'll let you know why I found some classes horrendously hard and others more palatable and others MORE USEFUL. Sorry but they all sort of suck in their way its just that some suck worse than others.
As an electrical engineer, I just have to say that I love Laplace transforms. It made seemingly impossible differential equations into simple arithmetic. Circuit analysis was literally easier in senior classes than in junior classes.
that moment when you see a polynomial term and effortlessly visualize a cap or inductor, or vice versa, is gratifying indeed!
My son got his EE degree a year ago. It was very math intensive, and for 4 years he had no social life. He got an 80k/year job the week before graduation, and then walked into the local Tesla dealership and bought a car a week after he got his diploma with nothing down. He says his job is easy, and acknowledges they are paying him for the "piece of paper" (diploma).
I also heard the odds of finishing an engineering degree in four years is a about 40%. Like you wrote, there had to be no social life.
Engineers and engineering students have no social lives to begin with. Saying that you're constantly busy studying is just a cheap excuse or maybe you just have very poor time management skills.
@MrGuano11 lousy take from a communications major
Wow this really got my hopes up as EE students
@@elbasado481yes EE has limitless opportunity, everything is advancing unbelievably fast. EE is great choice, pay attention to everything, everything can be used in the EE field and it opens you up to more opportunities. As you go try to find something to specialize in (power, circuit design, RF and Comm. , etc) so that you get an edge and know what electives to take. $80,000 is just starting, the ceiling is getting higher and higher. For example experienced software engineers at the big companies get paid over a million. At that point their stock compensation is bigger than their salary and their bonus bigger than most people’s yearly income. I know this is not EE but once you get started on this journey it’s not too difficult to jump ship if you enjoy learning and are fascinated by how everything works. The more you specialize / continue your education / the more value you will have and companies will be willing to pay a lot for you. As you learn the real world industry then you can start making your own moves or deploying your ideas.
Big things happening with ML / AI , Modern Physics and as result Quantum Computing. Big opportunities for EEs with great interests in these fields.
If I was young, I would start learning programming ASAP, it’s something you can really start doing on your own and actually most EEs HAVE to because they only get like one programming class. If you wanna be an OP EE, simultaneously become an “unofficial software engineer” by getting all the education online lol.
At that point you’ll also be a computer engineer so you’ll be be super OP. Lol sorry for long message I just find it so cool how everything is advancing so fast. It’s so fast that we don’t even know how to divide the fields of engineering because they overlap . I wonder what the future of STEM will look like.
I received a BS degree in EE in 1967, back when some classes were still teaching how to design electronic circuits containing vacuum tubes. Thirteen years later I received a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering because I found ME to be more interesting and in line with what I wanted to accomplish. Since 1967, EE has advanced so much more than ME, I truly believe it may be the most difficult engineering curriculum.
wow, that's awesome. how old are you today? where i live is kind of hard to see someone with 70+ with a degree, even less in EE
I received a BS in Nuclear Engineering in 1969, with a "minor" or emphasis in Electrical Engineering. I was caught in the transition from vacuum tubes to transistors when taking Electronics I and II. I didn't have to take Electronics III. I had Circuit Theory I, II, and III, which I assume didn't change much with the transition to transistors. Nuclear Engineering at Kansas State had begun as an offshoot of Chemical Engineering, and both required 148 semester hours for the BS in those days. So some considered them the hardest simply because it was normally a 4 1/2 year curriculum. The other engineering majors required 136 semester hours, still a pretty good class load. After service in the Army I went back for an MS and Ph. D. in Nuclear Engineering with a minor in Mechanical Engineering. The graduate level fluid flow and heat transfer classes in Mechanical Engineering required as much math as the Nuclear Engineering classes. That was where the mechanical engineers learned about partial differential equations (think heat conduction and Navier-Stokes equations) and Monte Carlo simulation (think transport [movement and interaction] of photons primarily in the thermal radiation spectrum). The hardest class I ever took was a graduate level seminar in two phase flow, which was taught from the proceedings of a recent conference on that topic. There were quite a variety of papers in the conference proceedings covering a combination of theory and application. Trying to understand all those papers without the benefit of a few years of actual work in the field was very difficult for me.
In terms of what I perceive to be today's curricula, I think EE might be the hardest in terms of things like design and manufacturing of very large integrated circuits. That requires an understanding of large numbers of interconnected transistor circuits, which I assume requires a decent mastery of mathematics as well as a good understanding of engineering materials from both a chemical and physical viewpoint, and of manufacturing processes. I have seen comments on other UA-cam videos about engineering curricula that believe that aeronautical engineering is also very demanding and I can understand that viewpoint too.
@@JeffRyman69 I have a BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering and I tend to agree. EE is a bit of a hobby to me as we only had to take one or EE classes for our BSME and have learned way more about it after my formal education. Intermediate Heat Transfer and Intermediate Fluid Mechanics really ramps things up in grad school. Frankly, I would never advise someone who hates math to get into Engineering. Not that everyone in Engineering is a math wiz, but you need to be able to handle it. Aeronautical Engineering is very closely related to ME except you get a bit more specific with aerodynamics and other related topics. It's a few different elective classes compared to pure ME.
yeah it has advanced a lot since then, PCBs can be now its own class. But it is nothing that is too far gone that you cannot learn now.
Methinks you have blown many 'circuitry" components in your brain.
I am a retired Electrical Engineer and I honestly think that dealing with Fluid Dynamics is harder.
Lots of partial differential equations!
Fluids wasn't that bad except for the 🤬 sign conventions; miss one and your boned.
Electrical Engineering is the perfect blend of Mathematics and Physics. Being a graduate in EE, I'd say it was definitely not easy to complete the course... We had to put in a lot of time & effort to understand concepts (probably higher than other engineering majors). However, it was really fun domain to study!
Although I'm now working in data science, the values and discipline i learned in those years are really coming handy in my career now.
there is plenty of computer science in EE as well, probably a lot more than physics.
I would say, that the older you get and just spend more time thinking about the concepts, you gain so much more intuitive knowledge about it. Recent grads have the knowledge fresh in their minds, but often lack that intuition.
@@dannyblozrov1142 Well, many universities offer degrees in computer engineering. The fields are very much intertwined.
@rcatv7750 computer engineers focus more on architecture and code, they do so by removing multivariable calculus and replacing it with discrete math. And also remove analog electronics courses and replacing them with architecture classes
My undergraduate degree was Engineering Physics - basically a physics degree plus an engineering minor. Not many universities offer it I think. In my case I chose electrical engineering as a minor. I love fields and waves and waveguides and lasers, etc. Another thing to consider is that EE means different things to different people: fields and waves and propagation, communication and information theory, power systems, circuits, ... All these differ in what kind and how hard the math is.
I am also currently doing an engineering physics major with an electrical engineering minor. It's for sure a great combo!
Nice. That's what I wanna do in college also.
Interesting. At my uni, engineering physics is all of an EE degree except for 2 compE classes and 1 power systems class. It’s also all of a physics degree except for a few labs and physics electives, and it requires a lot of quantum mechanics. I love it and I wouldn’t trade it for anything!
Me too
im currently an undergrad majoring in ee and minoring in physics next year
This makes me feel better. Currently in year four of my EE major and I feel like I’m always doing school work and I’m a TA for electrical fundamentals and I have almost no free time. Thanks for making this video and now I see all of these other people with a similar experience and now they are thriving
In my opinion, the reason electrical engineering is harder is that it's more abstract than most others.
You have to imagine many things that in other majors you can actually see, you cannot see electrons running on a wire after all, nor you can see electrical fields, you have to imagine them while you can see a mechanical machine working.
Math is not harder than in other engineering but it's kind of more abstract, for example we use a lot of complex numbers routinely, linear algebra, transforms (Laplace, Fourier), Vector analysis.
@@chadabercrombie6860 I don't know but I'm pretty sure it is a hard engineering major, perhaps harder.🤣
@@lordsauron4556 EE is more than electrical current, you have electrical and magnetic fields, which live in 4 dimensions and you cannot see them at all, we can all see a river flowing.
I think mechanical engineering is as hard as electrical though.
you only study about the wire and current for the first year,later on you have to study about magnetic waves,and that thing is 3d @@lordsauron4556
@@lordsauron4556 aerospace and relativity to account for in designs?
i thought Newton's laws were enough for aerospace since we are not any close to light speed yet.🤣
We learn something everyday.
@@chadabercrombie6860Depends on the person. Aeronautical engineering is sort of just MechE with a cherry on top, the majors are very similar. The vast majority of jobs in this field within the aerospace industry are taken by mechanical engineers anyway.
I hope that anyone seeing this video (and it is a good video) and is interested in electrical engineering, or any other engineering for that matter, would not get discouraged from pursuing knowledge in this field. I think every student can achieve success in this field when paired with the right resources, study habits and determination. I think the author of this channel provides a very valuable service by presenting the multitude of resources that are available for the study of math, engineering, physics, etc.
I agree with that 100%. I started as a mechanical engineering major and then double majored in electrical and mechanical engineering. Without a doubt, the math is extremely intense in electrical engineering. Especially when you get to Field Theory, and even harder still when you get to information theory and communication theory. Computing the entropy of language and other systems is wild math. I later did my masters in Electrical Engineering in signal processing and AI. The math got even wilder. If there is one thing that is certain after that: I learned differential equations like it was my job. Hell, I can still model and do differential equations 15 years out of grad school. And all that math helped me learn the skills that I then used to gain nearly 25 patents.
not sure about difficulty but as an EE myself, I can confidently say that electrical has the widest range of topics and applications of all engineering disciplines. you can make a living doing completely different things with this degree as a foundation: software (C, Python, MATLAB), hardware (ASIC, UVM), embedded, RF/Microwave (antenna), communications (satellite), PCB (design/fabrication), power lines (ADC/DAC), EV (battery, control system), etc.
the list just goes on and on, and frankly the hardest thing for undergrads like me is choosing a concentration :]
Man, you mentioned UVM and I feel heard. I'm in a niche of a niche of a niche verifying aircraft-grade FPGA designs.
what about mechatronuc
This is crazy! I have the 5th edition of this book and I was just looking at it earlier and then this video popped up! I never formally studied electrical engineering (I'm currently studying computer science as a career change) but I always have tinkered with electricity and electronics since I can remember. I bought this book to get a deeper understanding of how actual electrical engineering works. Btw I love your videos and I love math! Thanks for sharing!
I received my bachelor (1981) and masters (1982) degree in Electrical Engineering. When I was in college most considered chemical engineering was the most difficult engineering field. My father and brother were chemical engineers. I suppose the idea of which field is most difficult depends on each individual, what their interests and talents are.
What is your thoughts about civil engineering sir? i do like it, but is it worth it?
@@haidara77 I have two sons that got degrees in civil engineering. They are doing well in their respective employment. I can’t say which field of engineering is more difficult, as that truly depends on your interests.
I am an EE and I also consider chemical engineering to be the most difficult--only because I don't have any interest in chemistry! I would certainly struggle through those courses!! I don't know what it is, I just can't fully wrap my head around chemistry.
BSEE 1982 here. I agree. I remember that chemical and/or petroleum engineering were harder than EE. The normal wash-out process was: Chemical engineering => Electrical => Mechanical => Business majors => Communications => Sports medicine => Education => Division of undergraduate studies => McDonalds.
I am studying robotics engineering, so both electrical and mechanical right now, and chemical is still the hardest.
I have a degree in EE , and I’m not sure I agree with EE being the hardest ( as I have never studied other engineering course ) , but I’d agree that it’s what most people think . Back in college people would be very impressed when I told them what my major was , “ electrical is the worst course ! You guys don’t have a life “ . I saw several people from other courses try to take EE as a minor , and then quit in ECE 101 , because they said it would hurt their gpa . I’ve also heard people say that ECE 101 , being the most basic EE course , was the hardest in courses like industrial engineering. As to the concepts covered in the course , I think electrical circuits can be somewhat tricky, because even though the math is not so complex , there’s a very specific logic to it , and I myself found it hard at the beginning … but ended up understand it after a lot of hard work . People find it hard because it’s very abstract , you cannot see a transistor switching with your eyes , or current flowing like you’d see a cars engine working , for it is all microscopic. And the hardest part is dealing with electromagnetism , because it involves vector calculus , and I agree that it’s very hard ( at least for me ) . But I think it’s a really amazing major , and think you shouldn’t be intimidated by the challenges ! I definitely recommend it to anyone who wishes to try it !
You'd think a chemistry major would be just as hard because it also deals with the microscopic. It also seems to be a broader subject, but maybe chemistry has less intensive math.
@@ruleaus7664Alchemists had to figure out the structure of the periodic table by putting rocks into fires, and mixing chemicals together and observing the reactions with their eyes. As an electrical engineer I find chemical engineering to be on the verge of witchcraft.
Linear Algebra sucks! I agree with your sentiment though :D
Fun fact: Sylvanus Thompson, author of CALCULUS MADE EASY was an electrical engineer
My education was in Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering. Chemical Engineering can be considered difficult because some aren't that thrilled with chemistry. Also they go quite deep into a subject called "Transport Phenomena" (Momentum, Heat and Mass transfer) which can get deep into applied math. However, I agree that Electrical is probably the hardest for most people. Both for the heavy dependence on math, as you pointed out, and also it deals with some difficult physics concepts like magnetic fields, etc.. It's just difficult to understand how electronics actually works sometimes. A popular book geared more towards practical electronics is "The Art of Electronics" by Thomas C. Hayes. However I get bogged down when I try to read it.
Great book.
Yep, a lot of stuff in EE isn't intuitive and that's what makes it very difficult. At least with MechE you have an idea of how forces act on things because you experience them every day. A lot of electrical stuff is basically invisible or the only experience you have is turning on a switch or getting shocked.
When the curriculum dumps imaginary numbers on you in the first week; you know you're in for a fun time.
I am electrical engineer. In the past worked for electrical contracting and consulting. Now, I am working for a power utility company, we take into account Transport Phenomena for the installation of power electrical equipment. To engineer (design) Power transformers and power cables mind blowing engineering. Oh... I forgot mention Quantum Physics to engineer electrical equipment. Since this year, I am learning Earthquake and more in-depth mechanical engineering for the electrical equipment installations because I am working in an Earthquake country.
I've tried using BSL for transport, but it doesn't make it easier. And it's commonly referred to as "the bible". Lol
@@joshescobar3065 Yes, the famous (to Chemical Engineers) Bird, Stewart and Lightfoot. I had the old red version in college. I think it's only been revised once, and I also have the newer version. The new version is probably a little friendlier to learn from. One of my professors did his graduate work at University of Wisconsin and had one of those authors as an advisor.
All engineering disciplines were far more difficult decades ago than today. I studied engineering in the 80s and finalized my BSEE in 2006. What a difference. Could you imagine designing circuits 60 years ago without the software available today?
As a person who has studied electrical, electronics & communication engineering in India, I can vouch for this fact that electrical/electronics engineering is definitely the hardest one of the lot. Infact, now that I have (barely managed and) completed it after finding it to be so tough that I sometimes regret not going in for a different engineering major like computer science or IT or even civil or mechanical engineering that probably wouldn't have been half as tough but still be able to fetch more jobs than there are in electrical engineering. And the reason that it is so tough is because unlike mechanical or civil, electronics is not what can be easily visualised and also unlike computers or IT, electrical is so much more math intensive and that too maths that is typically not taught before a higher college degree in mathematics itself. Stuff like Laplace transforms, control systems with their 'j' and 's', Fourier Transforms, Z transforms, discrete fourier transforms etc can all be a bouncer to the uninitiated. Something that I took home by doing electronics engineering is the realisation that maths is indeed the language of physics and engineering, especially electrical engineering, and that one should not even attempt to study those subjects unless he is first 'fluent' in that language of maths itself. Stuff like laplace transforms and fourier transforms are the constructs of grammar for that language that one should be first well versed with.
I have a multidisciplinary engineering degree in electrical and mechanical engineering. I would say the depth of math is trivial - meaning the integrals or ODEs aren't necessary difficult. It's knowing the engineering principles, formulas and applying the math to solving problems. For instance, in my deformable solids course we would solve a 4th order ODE by integration. The hardest part was identifying boundary conditions in the system.
In controls you need to know Laplace transforms, work in the Laplace domain and state space representation. Laplace isn't hard but state space requires a different way of thinking. Identifying state variables and using a linear combination of the state variables is the hardest part. The rest is linear algebra and solvable with a calculator/MATLAB if your professor is nice.
I got a degree in chem eng. We had a course in process control. I was able to expand on this and electromagnetism by reading EE text books. I got interested in industrial automation and was able to apply it. I also got into building guitar amps and effects. Got into programming too. Working at a papermill forces engineers to learn power systems since mills generate electricity on site. Many opportunities to learn at a paper/pulp mill. It was all hard but it was also fascinating. As far as hard, seemed like chem eng and EE were the top contenders. In the end, any engineering degree is challenging. Not many people are capable or are driven enough to earn an engineering degree. So be thankful for being gifted enough to enjoy the challenge.
I am also a ChemE. One of my classmates already had a degree in EE. He did process control like it was nothing 😂
I'm an electronic engineer and hava DSc in Control and Automation. It is the same base as electrical engineering but adding a LOT of non-linear elements (like transistors). Even though we linearize most of the circuits, some are based on these non linearities, which make the math even harder...
Hi where are you based and how is the career prospect, I too am a electronics engineer planning to pursue a PG diploma in applied motion and control management?
Control Systems gotta be the hardest degree of all time. It is heavily math based. There is not only the Laplace transform but on top of that bayesian statistics, on top of that there is optimisation and even an advanced version of that, variationnal calculus. And worst thing is that all of that is not with scalars but with matrices. Like you end up with a problem where you have matrices of Laplace transforms with uncertainities (bayesian statistics), you want to find the optimal control (variationnal calculus). And worse you get PhD levels mathematicals concepts like parity space, mu-synthesis, fractionnal order differential equations, etc as introduction for new classes. The matrices you are dealing with are so hard to keep track of that you can barely do anything without using Matlab.
And i even didn't get into the bode plots the nyquist plots the singular value plot. And goddamn it QFT control. Even our teacher was telling while doing the QFT control that it was requiring all his 20 years of expérience to pull it off
I'm studying materials engineering. Don't know how hard it is compared to others but I love it.
I work as Electrical Engineer. I have to know materials for the selection of electrical equipment and installations in different installation conditions. Now, you know Electrical Engineering.
I’m an electrical engineering student at Rutgers. I am a junior. Although you may see videos or tutorials that seem so advanced and complicated you have no idea what’s going on, I promise you that becoming an electrical engineer is possible. It takes time and dedication, but any human being can do the work and learn TONS of information. When you live the language of EE, it becomes second nature and doesn’t seem so bad after all.
I do electronics engineering because I really enjoy it. Nothing is really 'hard' when you enjoy it. It's certainly difficult, but I'm not sure how it ranks.
0:30: 📚 Electrical engineering is considered the hardest engineering major, and a recommended book for learning electrical engineering is 'Electrical Engineering Principles and Applications' by Allen R Hamley.
3:58: 📚 This video reviews a book on electrical engineering that covers topics such as laws of resistive circuits, inductance, capacitance, and steady-state sinusoidal analysis.
6:00: 💡 Electrical engineering is considered the hardest major due to the extensive mathematics involved.
Recap by Tammy AI
When I was in school, a lot of people thought electrical/computer engineering was the hardest.
Computer engineering isn't even close to being in the same league as far as difficulty. EE is in a world of its own. ChemE ain't no joke either, but even it pales in comparison to the difficulty of EE. I got a MechE degree which wasn't too bad then followed it up a few years later with a Computer Eng degree. The CE degree was a breeze compared to MechE.
I also heard Aerospace Engineering is in the top three with Chemical and Electrical.@@bitterbob30
@@bitterbob30 I feel like Biomedical engineering would be the hardest.
EE were always working. No social life. They were always breaking down, freaking out. Some crying from stress. The math was beyond anything the other majors did.
Civil Eng were partying every weekend and goofing off.
@@bitterbob30 thoughts on Civil Engineering?
I am a business major who enjoys studying and comprehending the universe in my spare time. I have over a ton of various books that I bought for really cheap, and I really love Design of Machinery by Norton. I have learned so much from this book about linkages and various mechanical parts and how to analyze them. Keep on making videos about engineering textbooks!
My school didn't have engineering, but I would have thought nuclear engineering would be harder then electrical or mechanical. To be fair, I don't know how much overlap there is between them. I also remember people dual majoring in mechanical and electrical engineering at another university.
This makes me feel a bit better. I just started going back to college and I just completed my first semester. I decided to take an IT class to dip my toes back into taking classes. We did some projects with arduino’s that discussed the basics of electrical engineering. It was by far the most difficult part of this class. I thought I wasn’t very smart and that’s why I was struggling. So it’s good to know that it’s even considered difficult amongst other engineering degrees.
Out of all the Scientist, I always admired James Clerk Maxwell, the Scottish Scientist that created the science of electromagnetism, with a very high esteem. All modern electronics, including the computer, we owe to him. Thank Sorcerer! The Math Sorcerer makes exploring math fun!
What about Nikolai Tesla?
Ah yes, Maxwell the GOAT. Idk how he could came up with those equations, he also haven't proved his statements regarding the correlation between electric and magnetic field, yet when someone did try to prove it, he was actually right!
It was actually mostly faraday’s work that Maxwell translated into mathematics, although I’m not entirely certain of the whole story.
Truly, academic pressure isn't a worry for me, I know I can do anything, but instead it's my home life and discovering that the people around me willingly want to distract me and discourage me. In small towns like mine, your life must be linear (and mine hasn't been) so everyone wishes to see me in reprobate. I need one more semester and the attacks on my life are getting very serious. It's true, people will envy anything, even a new mindset.
When I was in school some 10 years ago, EE was considered the hardest major in terms of content. However, in terms of workload, it was biomechanical engineering that was considered to be the hardest. Depending on the concentration, biomech required an extra 8-15 credits beyond what EE required.
I studied a lot of electrical engineering at college, even though I was doing a computer science degree. This was back in the day when a computer science degree curriculum expected you to be able to build one as well as program one. Laplace transforms I found to be an excellent and reasonably simple method to solve equations that would be hard to do other ways and often the equations for a circuit could easily be moved into the Laplace domain, messed with and moved back again. It has helped me a lot over the years being able to both program and design hardware. My career path has involved both hardware and software for most of the last 30 something years.
EE grad here (UIUC-‘00) . EE and ChemE were widely regarded as the contenders for toughest engineering majors. Do a video on advanced electromagnetics and you’ll see how tough it gets. Good luck out there-the 🧠 muscles were worth the 🔥 burn!
We did LaPace in Mechanical Engineering because we had a 300 level controls class and lab we were required to take in Mechanical. We also had two semesters of electrical circuits and two labs. Our Mechanical degree was much more comprehensive than most. We had to breadboard circuits and test them as well as PSPICE the theoretical.
Electrical/Computer Engineering and computer science gotta be the group of hardest Engineering majors. You might be thinking Computer science? It’s not what it seems, you still have to take up to calc 3, physics 2 chem2, statistics, linear algebra, and discrete math. Computer science is far from just programming or coding. Think of CS as an engineer that can work on cars, airplanes, roads, buildings… and the programers and coders being the construction workers. Thats because you’ll learn software engineering, data science, AI, computer graphics, machine learning, Cyber security, neural learning, self driving vehicles, bioinformatics, deep learning, robotics, compilers, networks and many more. To survive in CS you have to be able to picture the invisible or at least think 10 steps ahead, because pretty much everything is non tangible. That being said and from my experience CS is harder because at least in the math classes you have proofs and can plug numbers into a calculator to check your answer(yes even up to calc 3 if you get the intergal down into the simplest form)
I used the Hambley text in my "EE for non-EE majors" course. (I was Materials Science and Engineering.) And I agree that it was an excellent text. Very clean and clear. A great text for non-EE engineers to learn the basics of EE for use in their own projects (e.g. powering a mechanical system) and for communicating with EEs. I used the exact edition you show here, around the time it came out, saved it, and have returned to it for refreshing over the years.
I love electronics and electrical math so much.
Had a friend got through EE he said it was like having to be kicked in the jeuvos everyday but he made it through.
I think Robotics Engineering if taught correctly is by far THE hardest Engineering major. You take all the maths heavy classes from both Mechanical and Electrical streams, you need a polymath mindset to utilise different subjects such as computer science, AI, material science, control theory as well as all the practical projects base workload too. During final year, once you've learnt all these foundations, you take specialised courses such as screw theory, optimal control, soft robotics, reinforcement learning which requires many pre-requisites. Not to mention the opportunity to learn other subjects such as neuroscience, psychology, or biology based subjects.
As a CS student, I like Robotics Engineering type subjects.
Not sure why we dont get to learn stuff like signal processing, control theory, and whatnot.
I’m an EE student currently finishing a graduate robotics course. It is definitely multidisciplinary, but I find my self tapping more into EE then ME.
Robotics is nowhere close to pure EE and ME degrees. You just dont get to learn about systems and signals, EM waves, antennas, wireless comunication systems and etc. Those are absolutely brutal parts of EE degree.
That just sounds like regular engineering and CS.
Robotics is a part of Electrical Engineering, that is if you took the Control Engineering path as the interdisciplinary of EE (in my campus, at least). So i'd still say that Electrical Engineering would still be the hardest, because you had to learn the basics of Telecommunication (Such as Electromagnetics, Signal and Systems), Control Systems, Electrical Power System, Circuit Analysis, Machine Learning, Nanoelectronics, etc.
Well, I think computer engineering is the hardest major. It shares a lot of material with electrical engineering, as well as all computer science courses. Furthermore, computer engineers must take all the engineering courses that Computer Science students don't take such as Physics 1 and 2 and Calculus 1, 2 and 3., Differential equations, numerical analysis, linear algebra, chemistry (I don't know why a computer engineering student would study chemistry 😂), probability and statistics, discrete mathematics, Etc. So yes, computer engineering can be the toughest engineering major.
electrical engineering= computer engineering. EE can grasp CE and CS fast. EE and mathematicians established CE and CS college program
No way computer science undergrad don't take General Physics Calculus LA, DE. What are you talking about??
EE requires 1 general chemistry, CE and CS doesn't in my school.
You must check your comment, if CS don't need to learn Physics 1 and 2 and Calculus 1, 2 and 3., Differential equations, numerical analysis, linear algebra then what do you think CS are doing the first 2 year??
Electrical Engineering undergrad here! Finished uni in 4 years & planning to upgrade on a MSc level once I start working. I'm quite passionate with my studying field, because I always like to keep my mind sharpened. Plus, it's also quite nice to try & create new inventions.
To give an idea of how hard EE/Computer Engineering is. I decided to leave EE my sophomore year of college to do something that was far easier in terms of homework time and mental agony - medicine. Am a happy radiologist now. Some of that stuff comes in handy when learning the physics of imaging.
BSEE and MSEE here. I saw more EE’s pulling all nighters completing projects and homework than any other major. I saw some mechanicals in computer labs late at night, but no other engineering majors were crashing lecture halls at the middle of the night to study. No one in any engineering major actually used the library on campus because it was more of a social gathering for non STEM majors and simply too loud or crowded. I never saw a football game or had time for holiday breaks. Professors didn’t care about leisure time or time with family. However it was an experience I’d do again if I had to.
Before you counter with another major, just remember that electrical engineering is the study of pure Electromagnetic physic plus advanced mathematics to create systems or devices. A lot of people only tend to see the fun side of designing electronic circuits in blocs with small calculations without realizing the much bigger area of complexity it covers when dealing with waves, light, heat and other elements through mathematics😂
ME here (BS, 2003; MS 2005). I think the top three (in no particular order) would be CE, ME and EE. Note that ME is the broadest (Aerospace, Industrial and Systems are all offshoot of ME) of the Engineering disciplines. Fourier Analysis and Tensor Calculus were not walks in the park!
It hit me when he said EEs do homework all the time on the floor with no AC, I didn't just feel that I remembered it 😖.
I was always maxxed out and busy as an EE, I though that was normal until I talk to other majors.
I still love it because we are so practical and hands on.
I say that you should not learn EE through a text book alone. Labs are the most important.
Learn what and how instruments work.
Do labs on the DMM, Oscilloscope, Spectrum Analyzer, Waveform Generator, and Network Analyzer.
Labs on foundational circuits, making PCBs, Schematics, and micro controllers.
As an EE I did not realize we were one of the hardest but it does makes sense.
Actually this is my favorite course, I love it so much and it appears so easy to me and I enjoyed to work with those exercises so much that I found I need more challenging. When it comes the first midterm, I never expected more than half of the classmates fail, I was easily get over 90 without hard work. That was the best experience I’ve had.
I'm a computer engineer, meaning I got software and electrical engineering. I focused more in programming but I got enough of Circuits 1 to recognize 3/4 of the chapter headers in that book. Now im programming and verifying FPGAs, reading 15 datasheets and diagrams to figure out exactly what the designers want me to do. I've actually solved a few op-amp circuits because I was not given proper documentation as to their expected output, curse them. It reminded me just how crushing KCL and KVL was to study and use. Throw in a buck/boost converter and some bespoke IC power conditioning and my programming flow suddenly has to think very hard.
Im taking Computer Engineering rn, its super hard and head banging experience. Reading the datasheets, using Verilog, and more has gotten me quite confused. I congratulate you for your resiliency!
Not in electrical, but I’m taking a course in circuits. Seeing all this linear algebra finally be applicable was nice.
I graduated from UCLA with an electrical engineering degree. I have to agree that the math was insane especially those EE courses dealing with electromagnetics and antenna theory.
Anteena theory was insanely tough. I would rather choose anything with electrical than to choose telecommunication engineering.
I wish I can transfer to UCLA EE from community college. The transfer admit rate is extremely high 30% compare to CS 5%.
As an EE myself. EE is NOT the most difficult form of engineering IMO. I would say chemical, and any engineer that doesn't get to round friction to zero in fluid mechanics has a tougher time than me. I work in aerospace, and I consider myself grateful for not having to worry about airflow or material tolerances.
Electrical is the one that I'm naturally inclined to learn. I love circuits, troubleshooting and the history.
Same with me. Electrical would be easier for me than, say, mechanical, due to differences in interest.
I am majoring right now in EE. Right now I'm in 'supposedly' the hardest class in EE, ElectroMagnetics; it's so fun. There are plenty of specific disciplines in EE; Power, Signals, Biomedical, etc. I am in the discipline of Power, and I am doig so well in all the heavy math courses, I do NOT enjoy coding/computer assembly. It is rewarding when you solve it and get the project working, but it's not fun for me. I will say I think it's cool using microcontrollers and inputting pins and coding, but it's trial and error. Math all the way. The equations TELL you what's going on. Thank you prof so making me feel good watching your vids and always sharing knowledge.
As a EE I would have to say there are other, harder, degrees. Aerospace, biomed, maybe chemical come to mind. Calculus and diff-equ was required but only really used in the electromagnetics course.
Seems you are not doing real Electrical Engineering in life. I am Electrical Engineer. My question to you, do you know the engineering needed to design and manufacture Power Transformer and power cables? mind blowing engineering mate...
@@Surge_Arrester I was referring to what was required in my EE program. Granted it has been 50 years so my information may be a little out of date, but math beyond basic algebra/trig wasn't a major part of any EE course with the exception of electromagnetics. Which isn't to say that some applications of EE don't require significant application of mathematics.
As an EE Student, thanks for the shoutout!!
I was a Journeyman electrician before deciding to go back to school. I'm working on my masters in Statistics now, but when I'm done it's a goal of mine to go through a book like this and learn some of these electrical engineering concepts in more depth. I got to work with some very cool industrial systems as an electrician and would love to learn about how it all works more in depth than I was able to with just an electrical journeyman certificate. Thanks for the recommendation!
I am pretty sure you are going to do well in this self study. As you already have a heavy background in maths, I just recomend you to give differential equations a review before start to study AC circuits, transient analysi, and frequency response (not sure if I used the right terms in english here, I hope you got the idea). Good luck man, you won't regret it, that's an one way path!
@@MarceloCarvalhoUNR I will definitely review differential equations, thank you for the suggest!
How old are you and what made you want to get your masters in statistics? I have a degree in software development and am thinking about getting my masters in data analytics, but the highest math I took was college algebra, and college statistics so I’m not sure if I’ll need more maths.
@@johansen8989 I'm 31 and started my degree at 27 after working in camp jobs in northern Alberta for 8 years. I just wanted out of the shift work and being cold and to "do something more with my life" before I got too old kind of thing. I was originally going to do electrical engineering (because it made sense to go from electrician to electrical engineer in my head), but shy'd away from it because I didn't want to be tempted into working up north again where the money is better. I started looking for other careers that involve math and stats kind of just won my heart almost immediately. Now I live by the ocean and do stats all day, I love it.
My guess is the data analytics masters would involve getting used to some linear algebra, probability and statistics so you understand what you're coding. I think you would be just fine with your background in software development. If the program is going to require you to learn the theory at an advanced level, they will have calculus, linear algebra, math probability, math stats, etc, as prerequisites.
Learned a lot. Informative video and informative comments. Thank y’all!
Computer engineering is not the hardest.
Electrical Engineering with the specialty of Control Theory is the hardest.
- I studied both.
EE is basically just a maths and physics degree with some resistors nailed onto it.
Lol resistors are the easy part, passive components in AC are why they quit in junior year.
We are forced to learn complex algebra without taking the actual course when the math course itself is a senior level math.
In my personal opinion, Control Engineering is one of the maths-heavy branches of engineering.
Robust and Optimal control is one of the hardest courses (check the book by Zhou and Doyle "Robust and Optimal Control").
Geometric nonlinear control theory is one other hardest course, involving smooth manifolds, Lie brackets, distributions, foliations, differential forms and all the good stuff. Book by A.Isidori "Nonlinear Control Systems" is possibly the most beginner-friendly intro to the subject I've seen. There are many more exciting subjects in the field.
And all of that is taught during master's.
I come to a conclusion one must be exceptionally good with mathematics to actually be able to read and understand the stuff.
Books are mostly definitions and theorems, with some additional explanations and interpretations given along the way, bits of practical advice as well. And it requires a good amount of practice to get the actual intuition/skills for how to use all of these advanced tools.
Basic proof-reading/writing skills are a must to understand anything. Programming (at least in matlab) and mathematical modelling are a must to get anything done. Understanding of numerical methods (and preferably accuracy and stability of these) is also needed to understand which ode solvers and numerical linear algebra algorithms are good for what purpose.
Tough, but extremely exciting.
P.S. That is a pretty long comment, and it seems like I barely scratched the surface of that huge iceberg.
There is System Identification, Model Reduction, which are explored rather well for linear systems and are still an active area of research for nonlinear systems. There are also complex systems (say, many dynamical systems interacting with each other), and some graph theory is used there.
Takagi-Sugeno Fuzzy systems is also a very promising approach for control of nonlinear systems.
Model-Predictive control.
**Not to mention, almost arbitrary combination of some of the above methods have also been explored.**
And the list goes on and on and on.
I got a BS and MS in (EE) Control Theory. Very, very difficult.
control engineering is a branch of EE,3 main branch of EE is EET(electric technology),AT(automation and control),ICT(infomation-communication technology)
John Bird's series of books on mathematics, engineering and science are good to get started. I recommend "Bird's Comprehensive Engineering Mathematics" and his "Electrical Circuit Theory and Technology". Between the two of them, you'll be well on the way. For electronics, "Grob's Basic Electronics" by Mitchel E. Schultz and Thomas L. Floyd's "Electronic Devices" are really good. Hambley (the book reviewed here) was my first year introductory text and is a solid choice as a beginner text. For circuit analysis, there's Boylestad's "Introductory Circuit Analysis". For the less mathematically capable, there is a book by Magno Urbano "Introductory Electrical Engineering with Math Explained in Accessible Language". Good luck and stay safe, budding electrical engineers!🙂
I did my Masters in Electrical Engineering, but I'm probably in the minority as I didn't find it particularly difficult - except for one area and that was electromagnetism; for some reason it was and likely still is difficult to get my head around.
I have an electromagnetics 1 final tomorrow wish me luck. It’s hands down the most challenging class I’ve had in college so far.
3rd year EE at Georgia Tech currently. Hard but good. This semester we did microelectronics, analog circuits, signals + systems, and embedded systems. Topics included everything from op-amp filter design to semiconductor doping calculations to Laplace and RTOS in C++. I don't think I've ever studied that hard in my life. I'm grateful to be doing EE, but it's tough and I sometimes want to quit.
Hi Math Sorcerer! Love your videos man. "Art of Electronics" is generally considered to be the best book to help people actually start to intuitively understand EE concepts. It reads like the text is actually talking to you and not just spitting equations right off the bat. Although while it still has plenty of examples it definitely won't make you a circuit analysis expert.
I would love to hear from you how math has improved your life. I think a video on why people should study these things and how it can improve your life would do really well.
All the best.
I got my degree in computer engineering. So I did about the first half of my undergrad pretty close to electrical before we diverged into computer architecture and shit like embedded systems or your electives like intelligent systems or whatever.
Electrical engineers were glad they weren't computer engineers, and we were glad we weren't electrical engineers
Nuclear engineering is really difficult as well
I'm doing electrical and information engineering. Some CS plus EE in one course. Its definitely taking a toll on me.
There was a study done (The Role of Learning in Returns to College Major: Evidence from 2.8 Million Reviews of 150,000 Professors) by Dr Vitaliy Novi of George Washington University; U.S. Census Bureau, (November 12, 2022) that listed the hardest Engineering degrees.
1. Chemical Engineering
2. Aerospace Engineering
3. Electrical Engineering
4. Materials Engineering
5. Nuclear Engineering
...
12. Civil Engineering
:)
no way aerospace up that high. It can't be rocket science
@@theultrahorseman😂
Second year Electronics Engineering major here. I can tell you right now that anybody can get through engineering school, you don't have to be a super genius. But not everyone is built for it. Luckily, you will know very quickly if this is something you can see through. 1st year is about surviving, and about 30% of kids just drop out after it. But if you're not that 30%, and you feel like you're able to come back more prepared, you are absolutely capable of graduating. You have to be willing to put in a lot of work, but in my experience its not this 24/7 grind that people make it out to be. Including class & work, most week days i put 10-14 hours in, and on the weekends I barely do anything, sometimes a few hours a day.
Also if you make friends, your time will be at least 10x better.
Presentation is very important. If electrical engineering courses are not taught in a way to account for different learning styles, some students will find it rather challenging.
learning styles are a myth, I recommend the veritsium video on the topic
Control theory, which is a sub-discipline of EE, is the hardest major.
Edit: hardest “focus” or whatever terminology your institution uses.
Usually ME and EE take one feedback control course in undergrad. Then in grad school you can focus on it (Lyapunov functions, nonlinear systems, optimal control, system id, …).
That wouldn't be an undergrad major though. You can get a graduate degree in it though.
I wouldn't call it a subdiscipline of EE. I'm EE and I only took one Control Theory course but I think most of my classmates were ME. My coworker who has a Master's in Control Theory is ME.
Controls engineering is actually an undergraduate degree, what are you talking about?
You can start learning about systems from junior level. But most don't because of the frustration when it doesn't work
Math + Physics + Electrical Engineering= FTW
Electrical engineering is hard to get an intuitive feel for, especially when it comes to stuff like analog electronics or electromagnetic compatibility -- it's all special case solutions to Maxwell's equations, but those are not exactly easy to wrap your head around either. I think we could do a better job teaching it. E.g., I found that using differential forms made things easier to keep in my head than using div, curl, and grad.
Thank you. Any thoughts on getting an engineer degree with below average math skills?
You can do it, because you can build your skills!
To be completely honest, it is definitely possible. I know lots of people who became engineers, tons, most are GOOD at math, but some are just ok. Good luck my friend:)
I'm doing it right now! I declared a double major in engineering and mathematics and I only tested into intermediate algebra first semester
@@TheMathSorcerer thank you definetly a challenge with a full time job. But really really interested. Thanks for the awesome contents.
It's possible. I failed grade 12 math and got a C average in a community college associates level calculus course. 8 years later out of school I'm in a degree completion program in uni in an accelerated calculus course (4 weeks derivatives, 3 weeks integrals, 4 weeks differential equations). I'm at a B average now. Just keep working hard on those practice questions and be aware of the patterns.
When I was in my 3rd year of EE I lived with three roommates who were in the Aerospace discipline and got to tutor them on some of the mechanics of flow because we hard learned the calculus for divergence and curl of fields from field theory. For whatever reason their curriculum skipped these parts so they got to learn it from their bewildered EE roommate. 'Just close your eyes and imagine it's flux lines'
I studied Electrical, Civil, Bioprocess and Biotechnology Engineering and finally Agriculture Engineering.
The other engineering courses looked like High School in comparison to Electrical.
All the mathI learned in Electrical was useful at some point in the other engineering courses.
Electrical is beautiful, one of the most beautiful courses but I fell in love with Meteorology in the Agriculture Engineering course.
Meteorology uses a lot of math too.
That book is easy lol go open a Systems and Signals book.
-EE
Signals and systems was, and will always be, by far, my FAVORITE EE course.
I have worked as an engineer for 15 years and I can tell you that my background in electrical engineering was a great training ground for solving problems in other fields. Lots of people from my faculty went into finance, computer science, got PhDs, got MBAs or became really good specialty electrical engineers. Electrical engineering education is a gongshow or math, physics, chemistry and learning to follow standards and laws. This is great training for everything after you are done schooling.
This video is perfect example as to why I've been a lifelong student. I graduated ITT Tech in 07', and am currently working towards electrical and automotive certifications. As he was surfing the pages of his book. All the equations were like "i remember you". I'd have to agree, it's hard stuff. Hence,
I've been studying it for YEARS and still feel like i don't know anything, because of how dense the materials are. It's not a "chapter by chapter" type book you read. These are equations we need to understand, how, why, and when, ect. there's always variables. depth, temperature, so many different areas. Diodes ALONE can have me occupied for time just understanding how they functions ect. Took me a few videos to understand ELIT THE ICE MAN. So simple, yet so complex. Tube is definitely a great resources to help simplify hard concepts, as well as AI now.
No engineering discipline can be judged as the hardest one. All the people in the comments who say it’s the hardest and then proceed to say that they have the degree have no idea what it’s like to be another type of engineer and thus don’t know how hard the other disciplines really are. For instance, I study mechanical engineering and there are plenty of topics like Fluid Mechanics that get very complicated mathematically and require a different kind of thinking to analysing a signal or a DC motor for example. As mechanical engineers we often dabble in electrical engineer and I have had to take lots of courses in electrical engineering. From what I’ve seen, the mechanical engineering undergrads tend to have a busier schedule than electrical. Also, we use complicated mathematics, just as complicated as electrical, to do with advanced calculus, complex numbers, DA, etc… often the stuff we deal with is more complicated with regards to vector analysis, etc… since it’s not just electrons moving along a wire, it could be a robotic arm moving through space, a turbine blade be in g struck by airflow, a rocket nozzle gas flow, etc…
It’s ridiculous to say EE is the hardest one. They’re all hard, that’s why you have to get a degree to be an engineer! Anyone who thinks that theirs is the hardest is probably not well versed in engineering as a whole.
Electrical engineering is the hardest major. But when you want to specialise, then Control Systems is even harder. It is heavily math based. There is not only the Laplace transform but on top of that bayesian statistics, on top of that there is optimisation and even an advanced version of that, variationnal calculus. And worst thing is that all of that is not with scalars but with matrices. Like you end up with a problem where you have matrices of Laplace transforms with uncertainities (bayesian statistics), you want to find the optimal control (variationnal calculus). And worse you get PhD levels mathematicals concepts like parity space, mu-synthesis, fractionnal order differential equations, etc as introduction for new classes. The matrices you are dealing with are so hard to keep track of that you can barely do anything without using Matlab.
Incredible book! There are many essential topics in electronic and electric engineering. I like it!
As an engineer, I would have to go with control engineering. It doesn't have to be electrical. There are pneumatic and mechanical controls but nowadays it is primarily electrical, either analog or digital.
Civil Engineering is the most difficult Engineering it has the most subjects. It has the most theories. It has the most exams. It has the longest road map to be a professional
I did Electrical/Computer engineering bachelors. The classes are hard and you need to study a lot. I did literally no partying, and would study from early morning to late night. But on the flip side the grades are curved a lot. Even though you kinda know a curve will occur, its still not guaranteed so the stress is still there.
There is only ONE engineering major that can compete for the title of the hardest engineering major, and it's not even close:
AERO-ASTRO
An aero-astro engineer needs to learn EVERYTHING. Literally ALL OTHER types of engineering. An incredibly hard and stressful major.
I got a BSEE from the UC system in 1978 and went on to have a great career in Silicon Valley. I would suggest, vs your comments in the video, that modern electrical engineering isn't done on calculators, it's done on computers. While the book might not have solutions, it does have examples of using SPICE so using simulations should get the student to the right solutions and will probably provide a better understanding of transients. Just my 2 cents.
I've enjoyed your book picks and have purchased both the intermediate algebra and calculus books. I think I'll look for a copy of this one next.
For others who might look around I snagged a 5th edition copy on Ebay for $11 + shipping. Total less than $18. The 6th edition was going to be over $30. For my needs I'm sure the differences WRT basic electrical engineering won't matter.
We did learn that basic electrical stuff in first year. At my school I would argue mechanical engineering is harder. It depends on the professors I think. Our school had very good but also relaxed electrical professors that graded fairly where as the mechanical profs were typically poor yet also graded hard. Mechanical had the lowest number of *With Distinctions* and Electrical had the second highest after software at graduation. I counted. While not conclusive, it certainly provides a quantification to my assertion. That being said I'm sure schools are different.
EE grad here, I took it because I wanted to take the hardest course to prove myself lol . Now I’m in software development because there is way more money there.
For general undergraduate education, I can see EE being the hardest and Civil/Environmental Engineering being the easiest (sorry but there’s a reason why so many people choose the civil engineering EIT exam). Nuclear engineering can be challenging because you need a little more physics than other engineering fields and certain aspects of nuclear engineering overlap into other engineering fields .
At the graduate and research level, you cannot really compare the engineering fields due to the overlap of the fields and difficulty of specific areas of science. At the PhD level, engineers in different fields should have the similar math and physics mastery.
A nuclear engineer would study plasmas for fusion applications, while a chemical or electrical engineer would study plasmas for a coating process. An aerospace or mechanical engineer would study plasmas for hypersonic flight.
Im in circuits analysis 1 right now. I’m a mechanical engineering major thank god lol. I failed the first two exams. I finally got my studies down and then recently got a 98 % on a recent exam. We are going to go over Laplace transforms next! I think I can pass! Just have the Final to go! This class has taught me how to study. I never studied like this before so far. I think Electrical, Chemical and Aerospace are the hardest engineering majors.
How do you study now which allowed you to get 98%?
@@desklamp701 after the last failed exam, I prepared and took notes on the lecture slides before the lecture, did ALL the hwk, look at other lectures/videos on the same topics, asked the professor questions and my buddies. The best was when I prepared for the lectures and did the example problems before going to class, it’s like I had specific questions to ask about a problem and it was more like a review because i already spent time “digesting” the content. It’s impossible at this point in my engineering major to just go to class and expect to understand the lectures. I have to prepare for the lectures and have notes already written down so I can 100% focus on the lecture and have intellectual questions.
I studied EE but had a lot of friends in all of the other engineering disciplines (except aerospace, we did not have a program for that). It was a bit of a tossup with a small sample size but EE and ChemE was easily in the top 2 for hardest engineering disciplines based on comparing our coursework.
The overall consensus was the more abstract the coursework the more difficult it was. Electromagnetism and a lot of the mathematics involved can't be interacted macroscopically or visualized intuitively, which adds to the difficulty.
Columbia University grad here. I did a BS in Chemical Metallurgy. Mix of Chemical Engineering, Mining Engineering, Material Science and specialized in Electrometallurgy. So I had to also be familiar with Electrical Engineering applications, magnetic fields, circuits, harmonics, and electrochemistry, I have done microwaves, electrical transmission, batteries, along with geochemistry, petrochemical engineering and environmental engineering in my 40 years as an engineer. The most important lesson is that all engineering is based on similar principles. Learn the underlying theory and you can learn enough in any discipline to be successful. For EEs its the math. For Chem Es its Chemistry that are the most complex and challenging to master.
Im a Computer Engineering undergrad major right now, initially seclared electrical but redeclared because i enjoy working with comouter circuits and design with digital systems enough to do that. Both majors are nearly identical in coursework at my University. The prime differences is Electrical dives into EM waves radiation etc more while Computer dives into more Comp Sci. I like the general field and STEM as a whole.
I remember being told Electrical was one of the hardest engineering majors my my learning advisor lol. Computer isn't much different, but is certainly cleaner since I optionally can take the more electrical classes for electives.
Math is heavier for electrical than computer as well. They hit all four undergrad calc classes in their first two years at my University (BYU). Meanwhile CE we only hit calc 1, 2, and ordinary differential equations. Multivariable is a very much EE area of calculus.
In fact to emphasize the mixing. We go by the ECEN department. Electrical Computer Engineering.
As a college undergrad taking electrical engineering, thanks for boosting my ego. Time to continue cramming for my finals
Let's say that in electrical engineering, you need those mathematical topics (depending where the focus of the university is because it's impossible to cover all electrical engineering in a master degree) :
- all calculus classes are mandatory
- differential equations
- fourier series
- laplace, fourier and z transforms
- linear algebra (not the basic course, the advanced one)
- complex analysis
- numerical analysis
- optimization
- PDEs*
- real analysis (not measure theory)*
- number theory*
Those marked with a star depend on some very specific topics. PDEs are more for electromagnetic fields studies in an electrical machine for example. Real analysis would be for a more advanced control or dynamical systems analysis course. Number theory for cryptography.
I may have forgotten something because there is so much needed...
I'm doing ee and i think what helped me was doing hobby electronics with small and power amplifiers. The hobby got to a point that it was probably not hobby anymore. So then majoring in ee many things fell into place.
Electrical engineering school is no joke, but chemical engineering is by far the hardest.
The curriculum involves not only advanced mathematics but also biology and physics. That may not sound like much but trust me, it's like having to become a doctor and an engineer at the same time. Interesting fact, a large % of chemical engineers (and biochemical) that drop out settle for becoming medical doctors, then re-attempt chemical engineering later.
We had a professor speak during orientation. He said just remember, it's not rocket science. It's chemical engineering. It's harder.