31-70

Integrated lecture and lab

Two Year College

This is a "gateway" engineering course. Calculus 1 is a pre-requisite for this class, and this class is a pre-requisite for our more advanced engineering classes (Statics, Circuits, Materials Engineering, Strength of Materials, Thermodynamics). Students are not expected to have any coding background, although concurrent enrollment in an introductory C++ class is recommended.

1. Given a data set that can be modeled by either a power-function or an exponential-function, linearize the data, and then perform a linear regression using MATLAB or EXCEL software to determine the best-case fitting constants m and b;
2. Using differential calculus, solve for an independent variable by hand that will optimize/minimize/maximize some dependent variable quantity that results from the analysis of a real-world situation-scenario;
3. Use MATLAB's SimuLink interconnected-icon based programming environment to create a SimuLink Feedback Diagram that produces a graph of the numerical solution to a nonlinear, nonhomogeneous, second order differential equation;
4. Use base-MATLAB commands to create a script file that produces a graph of the numerical solution to a nonlinear, nonhomogeneous, second order differential equation;
5. Use MATLAB's native "app", MuPad, to produce a symbolic-equation solution to a linear, nonhomogeneous, second order differential equation.

MATLAB for Engineering Applications, 4th Edition, by William J. Palm III

The examples are very applied and span a wide range of engineering concepts.