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Calculus in chemical engineering

Is there a lot of calculus In chemical engineering? like differential equations and motion equations.
Is there more calculus than in a chemistry degree?
On the course list it just says mathematics and fluid mechanics?
Original post by IsaiahD
Is there a lot of calculus In chemical engineering? like differential equations and motion equations.
Is there more calculus than in a chemistry degree?
On the course list it just says mathematics and fluid mechanics?


There is a fair bit of calculus in all engineering degrees - mathematics and fluid mechanics will have calculus in them, as well as stuff like heat transfer and thermodynamics. I don't know whether there is more calculus than in chemistry specifically as I don't know what the chemistry syllabus consists of, but engineering is generally one of the more calculus heavy degrees.
It comes up a lot but it's mostly just fundamental calculus. It rarely advances past the stuff you cover at a level.
Reply 3
Original post by Student-95
It comes up a lot but it's mostly just fundamental calculus. It rarely advances past the stuff you cover at a level.


ahh, so will I study differential equations much? I really like calculus but am not good enough to do a maths degree.
What is studied in the mathematics module then? will it be like vectors and linear algebra?
Reply 4
Does anyone know where I can find the specification for the modules? (This is for Imperial)
Original post by IsaiahD
ahh, so will I study differential equations much? I really like calculus but am not good enough to do a maths degree.
What is studied in the mathematics module then? will it be like vectors and linear algebra?


Not explicitly outside of maths modules (on my course anyway) but they'll come up in various other modules when you look at rates and whatnot but it's usually quite simple calculus. I can't even remember a lot of a level differential equation stuff because I haven't used it since first year.


Vectors and matrices, linear algebra, calculus, imaginary numbers, Laplace transforms off the top of my head. A lot of overlap with a level maths/further maths
Reply 6
Original post by IsaiahD
Does anyone know where I can find the specification for the modules? (This is for Imperial)


Probably best to have a look at Engineering Mathematics by K A Stroud.

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Reply 7
Original post by Doonesbury
Probably best to have a look at Engineering Mathematics by K A Stroud.

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thanks, ill check it out been meaning to for a while
Reply 8
Original post by Student-95
Not explicitly outside of maths modules (on my course anyway) but they'll come up in various other modules when you look at rates and whatnot but it's usually quite simple calculus. I can't even remember a lot of a level differential equation stuff because I haven't used it since first year.


Vectors and matrices, linear algebra, calculus, imaginary numbers, Laplace transforms off the top of my head. A lot of overlap with a level maths/further maths


thanks, what would you say was the hardest topic overall? (in year one) or what would you recommend reading up on before I start the degree
Reply 9
Why everyone is so afraid of calculus? It's just algebraic manipulations unless you research theoretical maths.
Original post by IsaiahD
thanks, what would you say was the hardest topic overall? (in year one) or what would you recommend reading up on before I start the degree


From maths? Most people found the maths modules pretty easy tbh, especially the ones who did further maths at a level.

I don't think you need to do anything in advance. The first year is usually designed to bring everyone up to speed. If you want to be productive your time would be better spent drafting a CV and cover letter, identifying gaps in your skills/experiences and thinking about how to fill them.
Reply 11
Original post by verier
Why everyone is so afraid of calculus? It's just algebraic manipulations unless you research theoretical maths.


im not afraid of calculus lol. I really like it which is why I wanted to know if I would study it more if I chose this degree over another
Reply 12
Original post by Student-95
From maths? Most people found the maths modules pretty easy tbh, especially the ones who did further maths at a level.

I don't think you need to do anything in advance. The first year is usually designed to bring everyone up to speed. If you want to be productive your time would be better spent drafting a CV and cover letter, identifying gaps in your skills/experiences and thinking about how to fill them.


hmm- ok thanks, I guess ill go over some basic stats and vector and work on creating a CV. Its just with A level (further maths at least) I found that reading ahead meant that I found the content really easy and so did better. So I figured if there was a topic everyone struggled with in year 1 I might as well try and understand it a little now
Original post by IsaiahD
im not afraid of calculus lol. I really like it which is why I wanted to know if I would study it more if I chose this degree over another


You'll study more calculus in engineering than most other degrees, except for maths and physics, generally.

However, you won't "study" calculus in the same way you would in a maths degree. Rather, you'll focus on learning how to solve problems that will come up during the degree, and so that you can understand what is going on mathematically in the material taught.
Reply 14
Original post by IsaiahD
im not afraid of calculus lol. I really like it which is why I wanted to know if I would study it more if I chose this degree over another


It could be a good degree for you. When I was at a chemeng open day in Y12 I asked a lecturer if there was a lot of maths in the course, and the lecturer started to apologetically explain that there was (probably thinking I didn't like maths)...and then I said that's great, I wanted to make sure there was enough maths for me in the course. :tongue:

The calculus in chemeng will be applied i.e. learning what is useful to solve problems, then solving problems with it, as opposed to rigorous study of analysis. I did natural sciences in 1st year and the 1st year maths course contained a good amount of calculus.

In later years (when I had swithed to ChemEng), there was a course on PDEs, as well as calculus used/taught in many other courses e.g. Laplace transforms in process dynamics and control, describing fluid flow (e.g. deriving and using Navier Stokes equations), solving PDEs numerically in a course on Optimisation and in computational fluid dynamics, describing heat and mass transfer with differential equations and solving...

Quite frankly, most of chemical engineering involves differential equations in some form e.g. most non-steady state processes (describe using PDEs), processes involving fluid flow and heat and mass transfer (i.e. basically every process!), chemical reactions (d[conc]/dt = ...). :biggrin:

If your uni offers a research project, you could pick one involving differential equations - my fourth year project involved setting up and solving a very complex PDE and I loved it!

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