freshman engineering problem solving with matlab

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Freshman Engineering Problem Solving with MATLAB

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2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Freshman engineering problem solving with matlab for all disciplines, presented at uses for matlab in mechancial engineering.

How many piano tuners are there in the city of Chicago? Estimation of rough but quantitative answers to unexpected questions about many aspects of the natural world was frequently used by Enrico Fermi to gage one’s power over his/her theoretical and experimental studies. These types of questions draw upon a deep understanding of the real world and upon everyday experience, and it is the mindset these questions engender that motivates the reinventing of the standard Engineering Programming course found in some form at every engineering school in the country. Engineers are problem solvers and the only way to learn problem solving is to do it! Only a human can solve problems; the computer is a tool. Design problems are the heart of engineering and to solve them requires creativity, teamwork, and broad knowledge. The approach to solving an engineering problem should proceed in an orderly, stepwise fashion, but often problem solving is an iterative procedure. To become a good problem solver, an engineer must have: knowledge, experience, learning skills, motivation, and communication and leadership skills. The ability to logically break a problem into pieces is most important. With all this in mind, a pilot course is now being taught that attempts to instill excitement and relevance into a course that, in our opinion, desperately needs revision. A course summary is shown below. Student evaluations for the course, as well as evaluations of how the course impacts courses in the sophomore and junior years where problem-solving skills and engineering tools are widely applied, are being conducted and will be reported.

Dr. Roche de Guzman obtained his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI in 2008. He had postdoctoral trainings at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (Winston-Salem, NC) and at Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, MI) prior to becoming an Assistant Professor at Hofstra University (Hempstead, NY) in 2014. He is currently teaching and has taught ENGG 010 (Computer Programming for Engineers), ENGG 081 (Bioengineering), ENGG 118 (Biomaterials), ENGG 108 (Biomaterials Lab), ENGG 199 (Research), and ENGG 143G (Senior Design). His research interests are: Biomaterials and Mathematical Modeling. He is an active member of the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) and Society for Biomaterials (SFB).

John Vaccaro grew up on Long Island in Levittown, New York. After graduating with a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Hofstra University (’06), Dr. Vaccaro went on to earn his Ph.D. in aeronautical engineering in 2011 from Rensselaer Polytechnic Insti

Alexander H. Pesch was born and raised in northeastern Ohio. After graduating from Ohio University, he spent time in the jet engine overhaul industry before pursuing graduate studies at Cleveland State University. During his time studying at Cleveland State, he also taught undergraduate classes and participated in research at the Center for Rotating Machinery Dynamics and Control. Currently, Dr. Pesch is an assistant professor of engineering at Hofstra University. His duties include teaching undergraduate classes, engaging in scholarly research, and participation in the Hofstra University Robotics and Advanced Manufacturing Laboratory and Hofstra University Center for Innovation which grow the knowledge base of New York in the area of mechatronics in modern manufacturing and bridge the gap between university and industry development.

Kevin Craig graduated from the United States Military Academy, West Point, NY, with a B.S. degree and a commission as an officer in the U.S. Army. He received the M.S., M.Phil., and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia University, NY. He worked in the mechanical-nuclear design department of a major engineering firm in NYC and taught and received tenure at both the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and Hofstra University. While at Hofstra, he received the 1987 ASEE New Engineering Educator Excellence Award, a national honor. From 1989-2008, as a tenured full professor of mechanical engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, he developed the mechatronics teaching and research program focusing on human-centered, model-based design with a balance between theory and industry best practices. He collaborated extensively with the Xerox Mechanical Engineering Sciences Laboratory (MESL), an offshoot of Xerox PARC, during this time. At Rensselaer, he graduated 37 M.S. students and 20 Ph.D. students, and authored over 30 refereed journal articles and over 50 refereed conference papers. In 2006 at RPI, he received the two highest awards conferred for teaching: the RPI School of Engineering Education Excellence Award and the RPI Trustees’ Outstanding Teacher Award. Over the past 20 years, he has conducted hands-on, integrated, customized, mechatronics workshops for practicing engineers nationally and internationally, e.g., at Xerox, Procter & Gamble, Rockwell Automation, Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics, Fiat, Tetra Pak, Johnson Controls, and others. He is a Fellow of the ASME and a member of the IEEE and ASEE. In January 2008, he joined the faculty of the Marquette University College of Engineering as Professor of Mechanical Engineering and the Robert C. Greenheck Chair in Engineering Design, a $5M endowed chair. He was given the 2013 ASEE North-Midwest Best Teacher Award and the 2014 ASME Outstanding Design Educator Award, a society award. In the fall of 2014, he returned to the Hofstra University School of Engineering and Applied Science as a tenured full professor of mechanical engineering. He is the Director of the $1M Robotics and Advanced Manufacturing Laboratory, and also the Director of the Center for Innovation, a new center created to collaborate with business and industry to foster innovation where all intellectual property (IP) belongs to the sponsor.

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Chapter 1: Introduction

Individuals employed in mechanical engineering careers attempt to solve engineering problems using the tools and information available to them. In situations where engineering needs to interpret, modify, or use data or other mathematical information efficiently the engineer may turn to a coding language to help them complete a task. A computer code functions by telling a computer a set of instructions created by the individual who wrote the code. In addition to running electronic devices around the world, computer code can be written by an engineer to compute mathematical operations, create a graphical depiction of data, or complete work much faster than the engineer would have been able to do by hand. By learning to code, engineers gain a useful tool to use when solving problems, studying data, or completing calculations within research or industry.

ME 160 at Iowa State introduces students to engineering problem-solving methods. Students will be introduced to the MATLAB program as a tool that can be used to solves problems engineers encounter within their education and their careers. To ensure students are best able to learn to code with MATLAB, this guide has been created as an additional reference that supplements the content being addressed by the instructor or other course texts. The first chapter of this text provides a general history and introduction to coding and the MATLAB program, providing background knowledge for students as they begin to explore the MATLAB program.

The history of MATLAB

The original versions of the modern MATLAB program were developed not as a unique coding language but rather strictly as a tool to compute matrix operations. This is evident as its current name, “MATLAB”, is short for matrix laboratory. Initially derived in research papers by J.H. Wilkinson at the National Physical Laboratory, computerized matrix and eigenvalue calculating methods were developed in the late 1960s. Researchers at Argonne National Laboratory later created the software EISPACK and LINPACK, which completed matrix/eigensystem and linear equation calculations, respectively, based upon the coding language Fortran.

By the 1980s Dr. Cleve Moler and his colleagues wrote the programming language MATLAB to make existing programs including EISPACK and LINPACK accessible without needing to use the coding language Fortran. As MATLAB was introduced to Moler’s Stanford classes, Moler collaborated with Stanford graduate student Jack Little to commercialize the software. Since 1984 when the first commercial version of MATLAB debuted at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ Conference on Decision and Control, the program’s capabilities have been expanded to encompass usages in more applications. Significant mathematical topics which have been added to the MATLAB software include differential equations, an assortment of data collection types, and an improved user interface that includes customizable windows depicting everything the user needs to read, edit, and understand a MATLAB code.

MATLAB’s role within ME 160

Within ME 160 you will utilize the MATLAB software to compute basic operations, solve algebraic and matrix operations, and utilize codes that will input data and modify equations based on parameters selected by the user. MATLAB should become a tool that the user feels comfortable using to execute computations and to create codes to solve user specifications. The remainder of this book will address the fundamentals necessary to write code in MATLAB, standard applications of the language, and more involved topics which conclude ME 160. At the end of this book and ME 160, the user should understand the MATLAB coding language enough to apply it to solve problems within their education, internships, or future careers.

The following list contains examples of situations where MATLAB can be used as a problem-solving tool when working with topics addressed in ME 160. While the list is not exhaustive, it demonstrates a series of skills that the user should have by the completion of ME 160.

• Calculating the values for the resultant of a force system.
• Determine value regarding materials such as sheer, strain, or margins of safety.
• Determine if boats made with different dimensions or materials would sink or float in various fluids.
• Interpreting, calculating, and displaying data sets.
• Development of applications with graphical user interfaces.
• Create repeatable and sharable methods for solving engineering problems.

Accessing MATLAB

The MATLAB program is behind a paywall that requires users or the companies they work for to purchase the software. As students at Iowa State University, you have access to the program without paying out of pocket. To download the software as a student in the College of Engineering, search “ Iowa State College of Engineering Installing MATLAB” on a search engine to access Iowa State University’s instructions. Following these instructions will direct you to MathWorks Iowa State webpage, where you should create an account using your Iowa State credentials.

After creating an account, read through the instructions on the Iowa State MATLAB installation webpage to download and install the program.

Another detail to consider when downloading MATLAB is the version you are downloading. MathWorks releases two versions of MATLAB each year, entitled MATLAB R20XXa or R20XXb, where 20XX corresponds with the year and a or b will denote the first or second version put out that year, respectively. This text was created after R2019b’s release, and most images of the software will be taken from this version. If you have a slightly older edition of the software, the most significant differences will be cosmetic modifications and should not cause issues within the scope of ME 160, though I do recommend trying to keep up to date with version updates.

In addition to making MATLAB a freely downloadable software for students, Iowa State University has provided the software on computers located within engineering computer labs. These labs are an excellent resource when students would like to work on MATLAB assignments with peers or would like to bypass the need of downloading software onto a personal device. These labs will update the software to the newest version, which should be the same version used in ME 160.

Learning MATLAB

MATLAB is free and available on campus computers without requiring a download. Search for MATLAB in the start menu to locate the program. Note that it is good practice to ensure that the version of MATLAB available on campus computers is the same version used on any personal device. This can help prevent codes from not being compatible with a new/old version.

To use MATLAB within ME 160 you must become familiar with the layout of the user interface of the software. Upon opening the software in Windows, the user will encounter the following page, which is divided into several useful windows. Each window has been colored and labeled in the image below and is discussed in the following section. MATLAB enables the user to make modifications to the position of each window by selecting alternative layouts in the “Layout” button in the toolbar. Different layouts may be more convenient for different users or applications, so feel free to find the layout that is best while coding in ME 160.

The Command Window

When writing scripts, you will want to start with a blank command window and reset any operations that the code may have carried out. This can be accomplished by writing two lines of code at the beginning of the script with clc and the close all command. This is demonstrated in the example script below. As a result of these two lines, the text in the command window will reset each time the code is run.

Script program files can be saved and referenced later or transferred to other computers, unlike code written directly through the command window. Within ME 160, it will be essential to save all scripts to the same folder, which is referred to as the current folder in MATLAB. The current folder is shown directly below the toolbar and is highlighted in yellow in the above window. By saving your scripts to the same folder you will be able to keep everything in the same place and reference different files without changing folders. Script files, which are saved in .m format, are listed within the red programs section of the MATLAB user interface image above. When a .m file is selected, information about the file will be displayed in the details window, which is depicted in orange in the above image.

As you continue in ME 160 you will save many files in this section, which will quickly reveal the importance of careful file naming. Develop a habit of including the name of the program and possibly the date the file was created within the file name to ensure it will be able to be referenced in the future. When naming files in MATLAB, it is important to note that file names cannot include spaces, hyphens, dashes, or numbers as their first digit. To make file names readable, I recommend using underscores and capital letters to make quality file names (i.e. “QuadraticEquation9_23_2019” is much more informative than “untitled5” and will be easy to locate when needed again.

The editor window is the home of MATLAB script files- savable codes that can be shared and saved on a computer for use. MATLAB scripts are the files where all stand-alone programs that are written in ME 160 will be saved. When working in the command window every time an operation is typed and the enter key is pressed, the operation is completed by MATLAB. This fact means that codes are run step-by-step when written in the command folder. This is not the case for scripts within the editor. Codes are written by the user and only ran when commanded by the user by selecting the run button in the editor window of MATLAB.

Multiple scripts opened at the same time overlaid with tabs showing the name of each script. Like programs in Microsoft Windows, scripts can be dragged and dropped to be viewed next to each other or above and below each other, allowing for easier usage when working on multiple scripts.

The editor window also is home to expanded views of variables. When a variable from within the variables window is selected by double-clicking, a window will overlay the editor and any open scripts to show the contents of the variable. This may be a single value, a matrix or array, or a symbolic input. Users may shift back and forth between viewing the contents of variables and scripts using the tabs that appear at the top of the editor window.

The Workspace

When writing scripts in MATLAB many variables will be introduced to represent data or to be used in formulas. To assist the user in determining which variables have been assigned in a script, the workspace will show each variable and the values that are assigned to them. This will be helpful when writing long codes using many similar variables and will help keep track of variable meanings.

Various forms of variables that exist within the MATLAB coding language are displayed within the Workspace. This includes numbers, characters, words, and more complicated double objects with arrays and matrices, and histograms. An example of a workspace for a code with several variable types is included below. Notice how each variable is assigned its own name by the user, allowing for it to be identified within the code.

A Guide to MATLAB for ME 160 Copyright © 2022 by Austin Bray and Reza Montazami is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

• Technical Articles

Using MATLAB to Teach Programming to First-year Engineering Students at Boston University

By Dr. Stormy Attaway, Boston University

In the 20 years that I’ve been teaching Introduction to Engineering Computation , we’ve used several different languages, including Pascal, Fortran, C, and C++, but the course remained fundamentally unchanged until recently, when an engineering faculty task force met to rethink the course objectives.

Faculty from the electrical and computer engineering department initiated the change, telling the committee that they would like all students to learn the basic programming concepts using MATLAB ® so that students could then effectively use MATLAB in their upper-level courses and beyond.

Some faculty initially balked, believing that it was a choice between MATLAB and introductory programming—not realizing that MATLAB has all the requisite programming constructs.

It may seem at first that a biomedical engineering student would only need to know how to use MATLAB efficiently and that a computer systems engineer would only need to know programming concepts, but in engineering today, both skill sets are vital. Another consideration was that students who learn a low-level language such as C++ or Java™ before learning MATLAB tend to use MATLAB inefficiently, at least at first. Instead of using code vectorization techniques and the many powerful functions built into MATLAB, they rely on for -loops and other low-level constructs. Not only does this approach take longer, the resulting solutions are usually not optimized for performance.

For these reasons, in ENG EK 127 Introduction to Engineering Computation we decided to take the unique approach of teaching programming concepts and the built-in functions side-by-side, using MATLAB as the vehicle for both. Each semester, about 200 engineering students in all engineering disciplines learn how to work with variables, data structures, loops, conditionals, functions, input and output, and other programming concepts within MATLAB and how to use MATLAB efficiently to solve engineering problems.

Jumping Right In

One of the biggest hurdles that I faced when I taught the course using C++ was simply getting the students started. I had to give them a two-page, single-spaced handout on how to open the appropriate code editor and start typing, and it took an entire lecture to go through the basic setup steps.

With MATLAB, students can jump right in; they type commands in the Command Window and immediately see the results. There’s no intimidation whatsoever. For a student new to programming, this is much easier—and more motivating—than the edit-compile-execute-debug cycle required by other languages.

Instead of spending the first lecture talking about how to use the development environment, I can now cover assignment statements, variables, expressions, operators, precedence, and vectors.

Students are also motivated when they can visualize results in new ways. I cover MATLAB plots early in the semester because using a for -loop to create plots and charts is much more interesting to the students than repeatedly printing a string.

Course Structure

The course is based on my book, MATLAB: A Practical Introduction to Programming and Problem Solving . It consists of two one-hour lectures per week, each followed by an hour and a half in the computer lab. A one-hour informal discussion session at the end of the week offers more opportunities for students to ask questions.

In the lectures, I repeat the process of talking for five to ten minutes, showing an example using MATLAB, and then giving the students a problem to work on. Lectures used to be held in a computer lab, with students working on the problems directly in MATLAB. I’ve found, however, that they learn better when they think the problem through using pen and paper instead of immediately going to code. (For the same reason, tests are given in a written question-and-answer format rather than within MATLAB.) Following each lecture they work with MATLAB in the lab to solve more advanced problems, which gives them an opportunity to immediately apply the abstract concepts they just learned.

Working in pairs or groups of three, students complete three projects during the course. More complex than the ones I give during the lab sessions, these projects are designed to give students an idea of how various engineering disciplines use MATLAB to solve real problems. I typically include one project from each College of Engineering department every semester. Recent projects have included image processing for quality control on turbine blades, detecting differences in images, fingerprint recognition, finite differences for heat transfer applications, and elastic scattering spectroscopy for cancer detection.

Beyond Basic Programming Concepts

MATLAB is so easy for the students to use and learn that I can cover all the basic programming concepts that we used to cover using other platforms plus a great deal of mathematics and basic problem-solving, including introductions to linear algebra, curve fitting, and statistical analysis.

MATLAB has also enabled me to try new teaching approaches. For example, in a summer class the students used the LEGO ® MINDTORMS ® NXT system and MATLAB to build robots and program them to navigate an obstacle course. More recently, we set up a desktop wind turbine in a wind tunnel and used MATLAB to collect and analyze data, perform curve fitting, calculate the power generated, and run simulations.

Positive Feedback

In open meetings with sophomores and juniors who took the MATLAB based course as freshmen, we heard over and over how pleased they were to have learned MATLAB in their first year at BU. I’ve heard nothing but positive remarks about the course from the engineering faculty as well. I’m working with several professors to further integrate MATLAB into the engineering curricula. We plan, for example, to use it more extensively in the linear algebra and engineering mechanics classes.

Among the only complaints I’ve heard were a few from upperclassmen who took the C++ version of the course and wished that they had had an opportunity to learn MATLAB (which was then provided for them in the form of wildly popular Saturday tutorials).

Teaching programming concepts with MATLAB has yielded several advantages that we envisioned and a few that we did not. We expected that the visual, interactive MATLAB environment would engage students and help them learn new concepts.It turns out that MATLAB also gives them a more thorough understanding of those concepts. For example, many students typically have trouble grasping the notion of nested loops. When we get to matrix operations, I show how these are implemented in MATLAB by walking through the MATLAB files. Students see exactly how nested loops work and why they work. Many are surprised that a concept that was at first difficult is now so simple to them.

It is a common misconception among engineering faculty that teaching a computation course using MATLAB means forgoing the programming concepts. This is not true at all. We have shown at Boston University that you can impart programming skills, efficient coding, and basic problem solving, all within the user-friendly MATLAB environment.

About the Author

Dr. Stormy Attaway is an Assistant Professor and Director of Curricular Assessment and Improvement in the College of Engineering at Boston University. Dr. Attaway holds a B.S. in geology from the University of South Carolina and an M.S. in computer science and an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in computer science, applied math, and engineering from Boston University. She is the author of the widely used textbook MATLAB: A Practical Introduction to Programming and Problem Solving .

Published 2010 - 91847v00

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MATLAB: A Practical Introduction to Programming and Problem Solving

• Experiments with MATLAB

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A Guide to MATLAB for ME 160

(3 reviews)

Austin Bray

Reza Montazami

Copyright Year: 2022

Publisher: Iowa State University

Language: English

Formats Available

Conditions of use.

Learn more about reviews.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Phillips, Associate Professor, Hanover College on 4/3/24

This book is not meant to be a comprehensive guide to MATLAB. Instead, it is meant to be a guide to the basic functions of MATLAB that an undergraduate Mechanical Engineering student would need in order to complete assignments that require the... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

This book is not meant to be a comprehensive guide to MATLAB. Instead, it is meant to be a guide to the basic functions of MATLAB that an undergraduate Mechanical Engineering student would need in order to complete assignments that require the use of MATLAB.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

My review of the material did not uncover any errors.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

I think this book is an excellent resource for students who need an introduction to or refresher on MATLAB. Anyone who has used MATLAB knows that is has extensive on-line help and also very good on-line training modules. This book will not replace those. I still require my first-year engineering students to complete the MATLAB "On-Ramp" training as their first step to learning how to use MATLAB, but I offer a link to this textbook as an easy to use reference once they have completed the on-ramp. I also find it a nice reference as I don't use MATLAB all the time and frequently forget some of the basics such as the format of the code you should use when asking for an input value.

Clarity rating: 5

I found the text easy to follow, however, I am not a beginner at using MATLAB, so perhaps not the ideal judge of clarity.

Consistency rating: 4

At the end of most chapters there is a Problems sections. However, not every section has a problems, and at the end of chapter 5 are not numbered as they are in other chapters.

Modularity rating: 5

I think it is ideal for going to a specific topic to get a refresher rather than having to plow through an entire book or on-line training course.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The layout is quite logical with an introduction to basic MATLAB commands at the beginning followed by more details subjects such as the use of matrix algebra and graphing capabilities.

Interface rating: 5

The book is available as both a PDF and as an on-line textbook. The latter is very easy to navigate.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I found no issues.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I found no issues but am part of the social majority in the USA engineering community, so may not be the best judge of this.

I intend to list this as a supplemental textbook for any of my courses in which I have assignments that require the use of MATLAB. Since the textbook is available at no charge, I see no down side in having it as a supplement to the primary textbook.

Reviewed by Xiumin Diao, Associate Professor, Purdue University on 12/15/23

This book covers the fundamentals of Matlab from background introduction to basic commands, matrix operations, script writing, graphing, and how to use functions in Matlab. It is a good tutorial for beginners. read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This book covers the fundamentals of Matlab from background introduction to basic commands, matrix operations, script writing, graphing, and how to use functions in Matlab. It is a good tutorial for beginners.

The content of the book is accurate. Commands and scripts are presented and the corresponding outputs are given.

Matlab has not changed much over the years/versions. So there is no need to update the book regularly.

This book is concise but clear. There are enough examples to illustrate a concept.

Consistency rating: 5

The text used in the book is consistent in terms of terminologies.

The book is modular with many chapters. Students can go through the book chapter by chapter, which makes it easy to read.

The book is well organized. The book gradually increases the difficulty level.

Interface rating: 4

Most of the figures are not clear/legible enough. It would be great if high-quality figures were used.

The book is well-written.

The text is not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way.

This a great tutorial for introducing the fundamentals of Matlab.

Reviewed by Caroline Baker, Assistant Professor, Anderson University on 2/17/23

This book is directly related to a specific course, so it only introduces concepts that are necessary for that class. It would be minimally useful for a general MATLAB class. read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 2 see less

This book is directly related to a specific course, so it only introduces concepts that are necessary for that class. It would be minimally useful for a general MATLAB class.

It seems pretty accurate regarding MATLAB's capabilities and the appropriate syntax.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 3

Updates will be difficult because of the typesetting of the MATLAB commands. In addition, some of the functionality taught (building a GUI, etc) is not particularly relevant to a more general teaching of MATLAB.

Clarity rating: 4

The images are pretty fuzzy, which makes it difficult to read the MATLAB code. In addition, more examples would really clarify some of the explanations.

The formatting seemed pretty consistent.

The book is divided into manageable chapters and sections within those chapters.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The flow and organization of the book appears fine. There are some large sections of provided code that seem like they exist without enough build up to them.

The images from the computer program itself are really fuzzy and could be formatted better.

The grammar of the book appears fine.

The book is a programming book and doesn't really touch on cultural topics.

Table of Contents

• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Basic Commands in MATLAB
• Chapter 3: MATRIX Operations
• Chapter 4: Writing Scripts
• Chapter 5: Commands
• Chapter 6: Graphing in MATLAB
• Chapter 7: Graphical User Interface
• Chapter 8: Functions and Function Handles
• Chapter 9: Inputting and Outputting Data
• Chapter 10: Projects
• Appendix A: Additional MATLAB Resources
• Appendix B: A commentary on this work

Ancillary Material

About the book.

This textbook provides an introduction to the MATLAB programming language for first-year mechanical engineering students enrolled in ME 160, Mechanical Engineering Problem Solving with Computer Applications. Designed to follow the content taught in class, this book provides a supplement to in-class learning that is presented at a level that is understandable to a student with no experience coding before coming to Iowa State University.

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Dr. Reza Montazami

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Freshman Engineering Problem Solving with MATLAB (PDF)

Freshman Engineering Problem Solving with MATLAB is a comprehensive guide that aims to equip students with the fundamental problem-solving skills needed to succeed in their engineering studies. Written by an experienced author with a background in engineering education, this book is tailored to meet the needs of students who are new to engineering and programming.

The book introduces students to MATLAB, a powerful tool for computational engineering and problem-solving. MATLAB is widely used in industry and academia to simulate and analyze complex systems. With MATLAB, students can explore and solve a wide range of engineering problems, from simple calculations to complex simulations.

The book is organized into four parts. Part I introduces the basic concepts of problem-solving, including problem formulation, data analysis, and algorithm development. Part II covers the fundamentals of MATLAB, including data types, control structures, and functions. Part III focuses on the application of MATLAB to solve engineering problems, such as mechanics, dynamics, and thermodynamics. Part IV presents a variety of engineering case studies, demonstrating how MATLAB can be used to solve real-world problems.

Throughout the book, the author emphasizes the importance of developing good problem-solving skills. He provides numerous examples and exercises that reinforce key concepts and encourage students to apply what they have learned. The book also includes MATLAB scripts and functions that students can use as templates for their own projects.

One of the unique features of this book is its focus on freshman engineering students. The author understands the challenges that students face in their first year of engineering studies and provides clear, concise explanations that are easy to follow. The book assumes no prior programming experience, making it accessible to all students, regardless of their background.

In conclusion, Freshman Engineering Problem Solving with MATLAB is an excellent resource for students who want to develop their problem-solving skills and learn how to use MATLAB to solve engineering problems. The book is well-written, easy to follow, and provides numerous examples and exercises that reinforce key concepts. It is a must-read for any freshman engineering student who wants to succeed in their studies and prepare for a career in engineering.

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• Contenido educativo

"Engineering Problem Solving"

Course Materials Include:

• 4 laboratory assignments

Engineering Problem Solving

By Stanley Hsu Rajeevan Amirtharajah Andre Knoesen Electrical and Computer Engineering University of California, Davis

Download free courseware for Engineering Problem Solving from the University of California, Davis.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License .

This engineering problem solving course introduces undergraduate students to sustainable engineering. There are three goals:

• Sustainability-focused lab exercises
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The course emphasizes topics in solar cell technology, and touches on other subjects such as green building design and electric vehicles. Although students are introduced to various topics in sustainable engineering, the goal of the course is to teach engineering problem solving (and how to use MATLAB to model and solve engineering problems) and not sustainable engineering.

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• Students will learn MATLAB through solving sustainable/renewable engineering related problems.
• Students will also gain hands-on experience working with hardware (developed based on Arduino UNO) to gather sunlight data.

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• Zip of All Files

Introduction

User-Defined Functions

• fcnpractice.m

Curve Fitting

• Live Script for Nonlinear Curve Fitting

Linear Algebraic Equations

• Live Script for Linear Algebraic Systems

Minimizing Functions

• Live Script for Minimizing Functions

Nonlinear Algebraic Equations (Root Finding)

• Live Script for Finding Roots

Systems of Nonlinear Algebraic Equations

• Live Script for Nonlinear Algebraic Systems

Numerical Integration (Quadrature)

• Live Script for Numerical Integration

Interpolation

• Live Script for Interpolation

Signal Processing

• shuttle.jpg

Differential Equations (Initial Value)

• Live Script for System of First Order ODEs

Time Delay Differential Equations

• Live Script for Time Delay DEs

Differential Equations (Boundary Value)

• Live Script for Boundary Value Problems

Eigenvalues of Differential Equations

Parabolic Partial Differential Equations

• Live Script for Parabolic PDEs (finite difference)

Elliptic Partial Differential Equations

• Live Script for Iterative Solution

Monte Carlo Analysis

• Live Script for Monte Carlo Analysis

Matlab Toolboxes

• Matlab ToolBox Site

Comparing Matlab to Excel

• Sample Spreadsheet with VBA

Homework Problems

• Set 5 ( Solution )

Download all files  (zip file - 15 MB)

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