On 1/16/2011 3:14 PM William Sommerwerck spake thus:

[I wrote, which for some reason William failed to attribute:]

Of course math is essential to understanding electronics.
I'm OK with algebra and trig, but have problems with calculus,
even though I have a basic understanding of it (differentiation,
integration, etc).

Calculus is pretty simple -- if you have a good book. I can't recommend any,
because I don't know any off the top of my head. (Recommendations, anyone?)

I took calculus in high school 45 years ago, at a time when very, very few
high schools in the US offered it. We were given a book to study over the
summer, which carefully walked the reader through the basics of the
differential calculus. When we got to class in the fall, we a preliminary
understanding under our belts.

I took one semester of calculus back in college and still have the
textbook, a giant tome that's pretty good: /Calculus and Analytic
Geometry/, Edwards and Penney. Didn't do too badly in the course, but
that was a while ago ...

You also need to learn about Laplace transforms. They make it possible to
analyze circuits with simple algebra, rather than differential equations.
Very, very handy.

No doubt. Wouldn't hurt to know Fourier analysis either, and I'm sure a
bunch of other techniques.


--
Comment on quaint Usenet customs, from Usenet:

To me, the *plonk...* reminds me of the old man at the public hearing
who stands to make his point, then removes his hearing aid as a sign
that he is not going to hear any rebuttals.