Engineering Calculations

Why Engineering Calculations

While Engineering Design is the fundamental function of engineers, engineering is a quantitative discipline. Processes must be modeled and optimized. Lengths, masses, flow rates, and temperatures must be specified. Calculation procedures must be performed correctly to produce the designs and artifacts that are the output of the design process. Many common Engineering presentation and calculation tasks are presented in the following videos.

Data Visualization

The field of data visualization is too vast to explore in depth here. The video linked below is an entrance into the field and explores linear, semi-log, and log-log plots as a means to quickly determine the best functional form for a model for a set of data. It also briefly introduces nonlinear data fitting. These topics are also explored in the statistics videos on linear and nonlinear regression, and in the videos further down this page. Some overlap is unavoidable in a collection of videos. For consistency the links are presented in a single row table. The column labeled JTF contains links to the Just The Facts videos, intended mainly for review. The TFS videos are The Full Story videos, with more explanation and discussion. The Info Page contains additional information and definitions for the videos.

Is Your Process Data Spread Smooth or Chunky? Just the Facts
Data Visualization, linear and Log Coordinates
Video, Info Page, Visuals

Is Your Process Data Spread Smooth or Chunky? The Full Story
Data Visualization, linear and Log Coordinates
Video, Info Page, Visuals

Interpolation

In spite of the widespread use of computers and specialized applications, it is likely that an engineer will need to interpolate or find a non-tabular value in a printed or on-line data table on occasion. Interpolation methods are introduced in the videos listed in the table below. The column labeled JTF contains links to the Just The Facts videos, intended mainly for review. The TFS videos are The Full Story videos, with more explanation and discussion. The Info Page contains additional information and definitions for the videos.

Interpol Is Late to a Mind-Blowing Math Hack, Just the Facts
Linear Interpolation
Video, Info Page, Visuals

Interpol Is Late to a Mind-Blowing Math Hack, The Full Story
Linear Interpolation
Video, Info Page, Visuals

No Clear Interpretation a Mind-Blowing Math Hack
Nonlinear Interpolation
Video, Info Page, Visuals

Spreadsheets

There are many excellent commercial and open-source tools for performing engineering calculations. One of the most versatile and underutilized tools is the spreadsheet. Even companies and organizations that can’t afford commercial CAD or mathematical modeling tools will almost always have an office suite that contains a spreadsheet. There are many free and open-source spreadsheets, such as LibreOffice - Calc, Apache OpenOffice Calc, and Gnumeric. The videos in the table below explain how to do several sorts of engineering calculations in Chemical and Thermal Processing. The column labeled JTF contains links to the Just The Facts videos, intended mainly for review. The TFS videos are The Full Story videos, with more explanation and discussion. The Info Page contains additional information and definitions for the videos.

The Unauthorized Guide to Using Spreadsheets in Chemical Engineering
Spreadsheet Basics
Video, Info Page, Visuals

How to Have a Quickie with Your Data Part 1
\(\bar{x}\), \(S_{\bar{x}}\), Linear Least Squares
Video, Info Page, Visuals

How to Have a Quickie with Your Data Part 2
Nonlinear least squares
Video, Info Page, Visuals

Solving Nonlinear Equations with Spreadsheets
See Title
Video, Info Page, Visuals