MECH&AE 107
Introduction to Modeling And Analysis of Dynamic Systems
Description: Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour; laboratory, two hours; outside study, five hours. Enforced requisites: courses M20 (or Computer Science 31), 82, Electrical Engineering 100. Introduction to modeling of physical systems, with examples of mechanical, fluid, thermal, and electrical systems. Description of these systems with coverage of impulse response, convolution, frequency response, first- and second-order system transient response analysis, and numerical solution. Nonlinear differential equation descriptions with discussion of equilibrium solutions, small signal linearization, large signal response. Block diagram representation and response of interconnections of systems. Hands-on experiments reinforce lecture material. Letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Tsao is a very good lecturer. The lectures were not easy to follow if you don't have a good background in problem solving or understanding diffy Q's. I think this is one of the more intensive "math" related courses towards the middle of the MAE curriculum. He recorded lectures and post annotations online, so if you missed a class or wanted to revisit some point of the lecture you didn't understand, you can do so online. After attending all lectures and re-watching some parts of lectures, I think most students should have a clear idea of what is being presented. If you thought the course was confusing, it's either because you didn't ask Tsao any questions, you didn't go to lectures, you didn't watch the lectures again, you're lazy, or you just don't have a good engineering background. The quizzes were not too bad, very straight forward. If you understood the lecture materials and could solve the homework problems, then you will be able to do well on the quiz. The homeworks were okay, but I felt like I was swamped with assignments in the class. One week there was a 12 question problem set! But in the end, it was not too bad and you feel accomplished. Labs were okay too. I think this year, the labs are more lenient because fewer students are exposed to MATLAB. Most of the code was written by the students, but sometimes the TAs gave out some of the code to do the lab. Both TAs did a good job explaining the theory of the lab, which is a reinforcement of the course material. Final exam was okay too. 40% was on a solving diffy Q with impulse input and unit step input. I thought the course was interesting and is very useful in testing your engineering/math problem solving skills.
Tsao is a very good lecturer. The lectures were not easy to follow if you don't have a good background in problem solving or understanding diffy Q's. I think this is one of the more intensive "math" related courses towards the middle of the MAE curriculum. He recorded lectures and post annotations online, so if you missed a class or wanted to revisit some point of the lecture you didn't understand, you can do so online. After attending all lectures and re-watching some parts of lectures, I think most students should have a clear idea of what is being presented. If you thought the course was confusing, it's either because you didn't ask Tsao any questions, you didn't go to lectures, you didn't watch the lectures again, you're lazy, or you just don't have a good engineering background. The quizzes were not too bad, very straight forward. If you understood the lecture materials and could solve the homework problems, then you will be able to do well on the quiz. The homeworks were okay, but I felt like I was swamped with assignments in the class. One week there was a 12 question problem set! But in the end, it was not too bad and you feel accomplished. Labs were okay too. I think this year, the labs are more lenient because fewer students are exposed to MATLAB. Most of the code was written by the students, but sometimes the TAs gave out some of the code to do the lab. Both TAs did a good job explaining the theory of the lab, which is a reinforcement of the course material. Final exam was okay too. 40% was on a solving diffy Q with impulse input and unit step input. I thought the course was interesting and is very useful in testing your engineering/math problem solving skills.
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