What Mathematics Courses Should an Electrical Engineer Take? A Report on the National Study of Mathematics Requirements for Scientists and Engineers

Abstract

The National Study of Mathematics Requirements for Scientists and Engineers is concerned with establishing the best mathematics course selection for the many specializations in science and engineering, such as organic chemistry or electrical engineering. An Instruction and Course Content Sheet and a Course Recommendation Form were sent to over 9000 scientists and engineers. They recommended courses for the Ph.D. in their specialization and filled in additional information concerning their age, place of employment, and orientation of work. Forty mathematics courses were selected by the consultants; and the respondents rated each course on length, level, applied-theoretic orientation, their knowledge and use of the course. Those selected for the study were all nationally known specialists or were very productive in reporting research to the major professional journals. Some of the general conclusions of the study were as follows. 1) Mathematics courses should have a fifty percent emphasis on theory and fifty percent emphasis on application. 2) There were few recommendations for courses such as the functional analysis sequence, modern algebra sequence, and mathematical logic. 3) High recommendations were for applied courses such as vectors, the many types of differential equations, matrix theory, and machine computation. 4) Comparisons of categories within each specialization showed little differences in recommendations for most specializations. However, applied electrical engineers used much less mathematics than those who were theoretically oriented.