During my undergraduate years and a one-semester “side quest” for a master’s degree in mathematics, I was obviously doing math. Now that I shifted out to engineering, I’m still doing math! So what’s the difference? And what is the fundamental similarity?
Math courses deal mostly with the analysis and construction of abstract theories. We spent most of our time proving theorems and extracting theoretical properties of math objects. Engineering, at least based from my two-month immersion with the field, deals with the use of these theories to solve real-world problems. Thus, math deals with theory and engineering with applications. Of course, these are not mutually exclusive and each field can contribute to the other.
Despite this difference, both fields essentially deal with the art of problem solving. And so my transition from math to engineering hasn’t been really difficult, perhaps just a shift of priority from theory to applications.
The rules of the game haven’t really changed at all.
