Discuss Any tips ?? Remembering formula in the Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

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Paddy4444

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Hey I’m studying 2365 at college and I’m at the science part now .. any tips on remembering formula or is it just a case of going over and over it till it’s in your head .. any help much appreciated
 
maybe do some practice calculations, over an dover. eventually remembering formulae becomes as easy as remembering you own name and address. now who the hell am I, and where do I live?
 
paddy, if you are studying, apply for access to the trainees forum. plenty of help there when you won't get bolloxed for any daft questions.
 
I’m currently doing 2365 L2 and get the impression that things get over complicated especially around ohms law and relationship to power as you get overloaded with variants of the same formula. If you are confident in transposing the formula it saves a lot of time rote learning.
 
Hey paddy I believe we are in the same position !

I started my level 2 in September and have been going over and over the theory as telectrix stated and believe it or not it does start to sink in :D

Maybe we could have some theory questions based on formula suitable for “level 2 students”
From some of the more experienced guys!

Just a thought.....

So far we have covered powers, ohms law triangle, power triangle, working out energy, work done, but the hardest for me is deffo transposition!

I have looked at some of the electrical design questions on the trainee section! But they are a little advanced for me at the moment!

But I still read it to get a flavour for real life scenarios :eek:
 
transposing a formula is easy if you follow this rule.

whatever you do to one side of the equation, do same to the other. e.g:

P = IR. easy. now suppose you want to find if I as you don't know it's value, but you know the value of P and R.


so.. divide each side by R, thus maintaining the equality.
so you have

P/R =I

ssimplesss.

same principle for more complex eaquations,
 
I think time would be better spent learning where to find them rather than learning them off by heart.

There is always a possibility that you will remember them incorrectly but if you can find then in the book then it is there in front of you.
 
Rather than trying to memorise formulae by rote, it's better to try to understand where they come from. Look carefully at the underlying principles and try to get a real handle on what each term in the formula represents. An engineer can derive many of the formulae he/she uses, out of nowhere, by remembering how things behave.

A simplified example. Suppose I had forgotten that P=V²/R. I would say to myself, more volts across a known resistance pushes proportionately more amps through. More volts makes more power and more amps also makes more power, so V must appear on top, squared. But more resistance means less amps get through per volt, so that appears on the bottom. Presto, P=V²/R.

Once you start using something every 10 minutes of the working day, it becomes automatic and very much faster, so it's good to practice. When you see electrical stuff, apply what you know to calculate things you don't know. What's the total current used by all the lights in the supermarket? What temperature would 2.5mm² T+E reach if you powered your whole house from it? How many coulombs would have to pass through your uncle's mobility scooter motor to carry him up a 1/2 mile hill at 1 in 10 gradient?

After a while, literally, it becomes second nature. I did the last one in my head in about 30 seconds, it's somewhere between 5 & 10kC for a 24V scooter depending on weights, efficiencies, road surface etc.
 
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