While the DTC Team was at the 2023 AHR Expo, there was an article in the Day 2 Expo daily newspaper titled “Math Matters.” That title definitely caught my attention. In my experience, if someone can do math, in particular algebra and trig, I can teach them almost anything. For example, when I teach a Thermodynamics class, I rarely get any questions on Thermo. The issue that students cannot get past is doing the algebra to solve for a quantity that is not explicitly given in a formula. If A = B x C / D, then solving for C is the problem. Of course the other issue is resolving units, but that is a topic for another article.
One of the major points the author made was that someone could be given a page of a foreign language, and they might say, “I can’t read this now, but I’d like to try to learn it.” This in contrast to how folks react when they face a problem in math, and think, or are told, that they will never learn it and so give up. Unfortunately, far too many people have acquired this negative attitude towards math, and so a career in engineering is never considered. The author said this is at least one attitude that needs to change towards math. We need to learn how to love the way numbers work. I agree. Math matters for sure, especially for engineers. The article also had some other really interesting points about being a successful engineer. The full article, by Andy Pearson, Ph.D., C.Eng., can be found in the December 2022 ASHRAE Journal, which requires a subscription. Well worth reading. – Dr. Tom
