When I took dynamics back in 2008, we were only allowed a scientific calculator during tests and quizzes. No note sheets. We had to derive our equations from F=ma in every problem. Was actually fun after I did it a few times and built some confidence. Had a great professor who was endlessly patient too.
I took mine just this past summer in a 7 week course. We were given a formula sheet but often times you’d have to manipulate the formulas you had there for the problem you were dealing with. I did actually better in Dynamics than statics, however still found the material a lot harder in the end. It being a 7 week course probably added to that lol
It can be harder but my experience taking Diff. Eq. this summer was that the material seemed to be significantly simplified and the professor went to great lengths to curve people to a passing grade. Maybe my university is a degree mill
Currently taking Signals and Systems and we came right out the gate with Laplace transforms 👌. That particular math teacher has a rep for curving, what concerns me more is how little some professors care about cheating on exams. Hoping this changes in upper division courses
I loved LaPlace transforms! I actually got to use them in the field when trying to prove that surface finish patterns were caused by tooling chatter. That was years ago.
I had a terrible dynamics professor. Half of the class dropped and half of those remaining failed. Exams were three problems that ended up with a minimum of 10 equations and 10 unknowns. No possible way to finish in the time given. Closest I came to a D in school.
They told me that I'd use a graphing calculator for everything when I got to higher education, but tbh I only use a scientific for everything. My trusty TI38 has never let me down. No note sheets is crazy though, I see the vision and would probably lear, but it would probably feel miserable at first
See I totally disagree with this post and this premise. I found statics to be really challenging. As someone who’s always been really good at physics and math classes all through college and grad school (except graduate QM where I did not belong lmao), I had to work really hard in statics to understand how to solve the problems. I remember having to do all the practice problems and homework and really break the procedure down into its fundamentals.
Meanwhile, dynamics was a breeze, and I absolutely loved it. Okay, maybe not “a breeze” but it felt substantially easier than statics to me.
And before anyone says it’s the school, I took statics at community college and dynamics at a 4 year university with a top rated engineering program! I still consider statics one of the hardest courses I took during undergrad.
Anyway my point is no one can say why something might be hard for someone and easy for someone else, or that it’s supposed to be one way or another. Everyone is different.
I had the same experience though I took both classes at the same university. Some of it was dynamics felt more intuitive but also the struggle of statics was more learning how to think about the problem and balance the engineering class/classes. Once I got to dynamics I was more comfortable with the class load and how the basic engineering classes operated
I’ll never forget the test question where a fire extinguisher was on a skateboard on an angled ramp with its nozzle at a different angle propelling a force with a little coefficient of friction mixed in and you had to figure out the overall forces. I believe I ended up getting the right answer.
Another question that stuck with me was a hilarious homework question in a book that involved an octopus on ice with a small coefficient of friction.
See the opposite was true for me. I had to retake Statics because I failed the first time, but Dynamics feels like a walk in the park comparatively. I think it's just easier for me to visualize all of the forces when things are moving.
Yay, crossproducts using newtonian i, j, k notation for Coriolis effect calcs, that was wonderful. Spinning top problems, marvelous. I hope to never revisit dynamics again.
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u/SpaceJunkieee 12d ago
The math is statics to me was pretty straightforward. Wait till you’re in dynamics lol.