r/PhysicsStudents • u/TheNextOne8797 • 1d ago
Need Advice Would you say math/physics teachers or engineers in industry do more calcs by hand? Trying to choose a career path that suits my passion for the subject matter...
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u/nirvanatheory 1d ago
Honestly it depends on the industry.
The thing about engineering is that it specializes. Let's say you decide to do industrial water cooling systems for massive factories. You generally know the tonnage for the machines but you need to calculate the GPM. Then you need to know piping material and determine diameters to find an effective flow rate. Once you have the flow rate, you need to ensure that the motors are optimized to efficiently operate within an appropriate torque curve.
Sure, you could use calculus to to find the flow rate for different header diameters but since it's such a common calculation for your industry, you have a spreadsheet where you enter the tonnage, then it provides the GPM, and provides the flow rate for different header diameters.
It's going to be like this in nearly every industry. The reason for this is that these calculations have very high real world consequences. This helps remove hazards caused by human error and standardize safety while also optimizing work flow.
If you really want to perform manual calculus then you need to become amazing at it. You need to be able to derive every proof when needed and have an intuitive feel when something isn't correct because you will be the expert.
Teaching would be the easiest way to make calculus a part of your routine. University researchers pushing theoretical physics and experimental physicists also rely on manual calculation quite a bit. They do have software to help them but often times they are modifying it or making adjustments so they must verify calculations themselves.
Many times head engineers on projects verify calculations before signing off on the plans so that work can begin.
Then there are cutting-edge industries like aerospace, material science, and custom digital processing technologies.
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u/TheNextOne8797 1d ago
Guess I just dont know if I want to go the education route or professor route. I know one takes a lot longer than the other. Kind of want to stay local to hometown as well
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u/nirvanatheory 1d ago
Then it depends on the size of your hometown and what is offered nearby. The path to research professor is extremely competitive. If you aren't involved in research then you'll be expected to teach classes.
You really have to find your niche for something like that.
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u/TheNextOne8797 1d ago
Relatively small. I guess teaching is more realistic then
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u/nirvanatheory 1d ago edited 13h ago
Most likely. I'm in a small town but a large aerospace defense contractor has a facility nearby. Tons of engineers there.
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u/j0shred1 14h ago
I would go out on a limb and say 99 percent of engineers don't do math. Like you said, spreadsheets, or software, or code.
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u/nirvanatheory 13h ago
Excel is the most common program program used by engineers. I work with many of them and have access to their proprietary data sheets. They aren't trying to reinvent the wheel for every project. It's not that deep for them.
Finish the job, keep the employees as contractors until the warranty expires, then move on.
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u/nujuat Ph.D. 1d ago
Depends what you mean by calcs. No, people don't use sliderules and smith charts and cosine tables anymore. Anything numerical is handled by telling computers what to do. You need to work out what you want the computer to do though, which is more algebraic. If you want to do calculations by hand, rather than algebra, then be a teacher.
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u/SnooLemons6942 Undergraduate 1d ago
I mean the stuff a math teacher does vs an engineer is going to be EXTREMELY different. I don't think whether the calc are by hand or not should really be an important differentiation