Courses What advanced math courses should I take as a ECE

[Delta31415]

Hello, everyone, I am a freshman in ECE( My degree atm is CompE) who by next semester(fall 2019) will have completed calc 1 -3, elementary linear algebra(with proofs) and differential equations. My program still requires me to take a course in discrete mathematics, probability(super basic imo) and an elective from a different discipline(for which I plan to take either stochastic models or optimization).

However, I am unable to take any of these courses until the spring of my second year due to some ECE prereqs. So for next semester I am considering starting a two-semester sequence in real analysis, or take a second course in linear(numerical analysis) or take a proof based probability course. One thing to note is that the numerical analysis course is a graduate level so I don't know if I should take it as a second year, especially considering the fact I go to a T10 STEM university and the almost all of the courses have very low averages and pass rates.
So I am asking everyone here who is more knowledgeable than me on what courses I should take.
P.S my optimal goal atm is being able to take at least one math course every semester.

 

[ZapperZ]

So I am asking everyone here who is more knowledgeable than me on what courses I should take.

The person who is more knowledgeable than any of us here combined, because he/she knows the school's curriculum, course requirements, and your background more than any of us here, is your academic advisor. Have you asked him/her?

Zz.

 

[berkeman]

Hello, everyone, I am a freshman in ECE( My degree atm is CompE)

It's pretty early for you to be planning math courses out a couple of years, but a big part of choosing those courses is what kind of specialties you are planning in your overall degree. The EE part of ECE is pretty different from the Computer Engineering focus that you mention. Probability is important to get good at if you are going to be pursuing communications theory and system design on the EE side of things, but not very useful for a CompE major, IMO. OTOH, discrete math is important for CompE, but not very useful in general EE applications (at least the discrete math that I took in undergrad has not been very applicable to my EE work in industry).

So overall I'd suggest trying to refine what you think you want to specialize in for the last couple years of your degree, and then talk with your advisor about which math classes best support that specialization. Best of luck.

 

[Delta31415]

The person who is more knowledgeable than any of us here combined, because he/she knows the school's curriculum, course requirements, and your background more than any of us here, is your academic advisor. Have you asked him/her?

Zz.

I have talked to 5 academic advisors and all of them were useless imo, most of them don't even know that algebra(abstract) isn't the same thing as high school algebra. However I have an upcoming meeting with my new advisor(after the first year we get a new advisor) in a couple of weeks, hopefully, they will be able to help me.

 

[Delta31415]

It's pretty early for you to be planning math courses out a couple of years, but a big part of choosing those courses is what kind of specialties you are planning in your overall degree. The EE part of ECE is pretty different from the Computer Engineering focus that you mention. Probability is important to get good at if you are going to be pursuing communications theory and system design on the EE side of things, but not very useful for a CompE major, IMO. OTOH, discrete math is important for CompE, but not very useful in general EE applications (at least the discrete math that I took in undergrad has not been very applicable to my EE work in industry).

So overall I'd suggest trying to refine what you think you want to specialize in for the last couple years of your degree, and then talk with your advisor about which math classes best support that specialization. Best of luck.

I mean one of the major reasons(if not the main one) I choose ECE over other engineering fields was that many told me that it has the most mathematics and I enjoy the math more than say working with hardware or even software applications. Atm the only fields of ECE I find the most interesting would be things such as DSP/Comm,control theory, machine learning(computer vision)

 

[berkeman]

I mean one of the major reasons(if not the main one) I choose ECE over other engineering fields was that many told me that it has the most mathematics and I enjoy the math more than say working with hardware or even software applications. Atm the only fields of ECE I find the most interesting would be things such as DSP/Comm,control theory, machine learning(computer vision)

In that case, have a look at the math behind OOFDM and other more advanced modulation schemes for high-speed communication:

https://www.google.com/search?q=oofdm&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1

These are areas of active research, and the results of those research efforts are going into commercial use very quickly right now. The math behind OOFDM will stretch your mind a bit for sure...

Also be sure to read up on the math behind more basic communication theory, like Shannon's theorem and the Nyquist limit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noisy-channel_coding_theorem
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyquist–Shannon_sampling_theorem

 

[Delta31415]

In that case, have a look at the math behind OOFDM and other more advanced modulation schemes for high-speed communication:

https://www.google.com/search?q=oofdm&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1

These are areas of active research, and the results of those research efforts are going into commercial use very quickly right now. The math behind OOFDM will stretch your mind a bit for sure...

Also be sure to read up on the math behind more basic communication theory, like Shannon's theorem and the Nyquist limit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noisy-channel_coding_theorem
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyquist–Shannon_sampling_theorem

Thanks for all the reading material but that still doesn't really answer my initial question; should I take a two-semester course in real analysis(personally I really want to read Rudin) and continue taking math courses even though I can't seem to find a direct benefit in ECE.

 

[vela]

Thanks for all the reading material but that still doesn't really answer my initial question; should I take a two-semester course in real analysis(personally I really want to read Rudin) and continue taking math courses even though I can't seem to find a direct benefit in ECE.

Yes.