I want suggestions on my course books

[peeyush_ali]

Hi...I'm basically from a low-profile college..and there are not quite many sources to learn in my college even the faculty; I've found PF too good(especially the mentors) and I'm ever so will be grateful to this site..
OK.,
so I've just entered in my 2nd semester of Electronics and Communications Engg. and my courses include:
1.Principles of electrical engineering
2.Electronic circuit analysis
3.Pulse and digital circuits
4.Switching theory and logic design
5.Electromagnetic theory and transmission lines

And there are labs for EE and E circuit analysis and Pulse&digital circuits...

I'm expecting to be suggested by really really really really great books..
I hope this info. could also help students like me using PF as their one of the primary educational sources..
Thanks in advance :)

 

[yungman]

Here is a thread we talked about EM and Tx line books. You are only the first year, I don't know whether you really meant the more heavy duty ones. The book by Ulaby is as easy as it get in EM and Tx line.

https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=564654

 

[peeyush_ali]

Here is a thread we talked about EM and Tx line books. You are only the first year, I don't know whether you really meant the more heavy duty ones. The book by Ulaby is as easy as it get in EM and Tx line.

https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=564654

dear yungman ... i just started the Griffiths for EM theory and it is like how i wanted and I'm pretty much satisfied with it..can u suggest books for the other topics (mentioned above) too?
thanks in advance,..

 

[yungman]

dear yungman ... i just started the Griffiths for EM theory and it is like how i wanted and I'm pretty much satisfied with it..can u suggest books for the other topics (mentioned above) too?
thanks in advance,..

I thought you are only the second semester EE, how can you be studying Griffiths?! Where are you and how's your school system?

From your name, I guess you are not from the state. There goes to support my view about education in the US. Our education system is so watered down because they either want to make the student feel good or political correctness. That's part of the reason I refused to enroll in San Jose State for the EM class because they dump down the standard so much. They use the Ulaby book that meant for one semester and make it a whole year course. I know they offer nothing more because I communicated with the professor and I have the whole homework set and exam. I had to study Cheng and Griffiths to feel at least I learn enough for EE. I don't know of any college use Griffith for EE.

That's the reason if I don't have enough money to enroll in Stanford or Santa Clara U, I studied on my own. I don't need to go to a "feel good" university to get an A and think I know the subject. Sorry!

I study most EE topics on my own, it's been so long since I studied on the other topics I don't have any suggestion on the others. You should get the Cheng's book and fields and waves. Griffiths fall way short on the Tx line as I wrote in the other posts.

 

[peeyush_ali]

I thought you are only the second semester EE, how can you be studying Griffiths?! Where are you and how's your school system?

From your name, I guess you are not from the state. There goes to support my view about education in the US. Our education system is so watered down because they either want to make the student feel good or political correctness. That's part of the reason I refused to enroll in San Jose State for the EM class because they dump down the standard so much. They use the Ulaby book that meant for one semester and make it a whole year course. I know they offer nothing more because I communicated with the professor and I have the whole homework set and exam. I had to study Cheng and Griffiths to feel at least I learn enough for EE. I don't know of any college use Griffith for EE.

That's the reason if I don't have enough money to enroll in Stanford or Santa Clara U, I studied on my own. I don't need to go to a "feel good" university to get an A and think I know the subject. Sorry!

I study most EE topics on my own, it's been so long since I studied on the other topics I don't have any suggestion on the others. You should get the Cheng's book and fields and waves. Griffiths fall way short on the Tx line as I wrote in the other posts.

I'm from India...and I'm a UG student doing engineering of *ECommunications* :here imparts with the knowledge of (prerequisites for higher physics) higher calculus (solving DE's of higher orders), complex number theory(complex integrals etc.,), the numerical methods of solving problems, the transforms,graph theory, and the like (more or less the same in almost all the states here) ..

I understand that at your place math learning( and problem solving?) is a problem ( i guess) but considering the depths of practical applications and labs-equipment-profile you have a very good education system..on an average here, every engineering place of study lacks the technicalities and the faculty in their qualities..even I'm self taught and basically that's the reason i choose books that is simple in its sense and have to be tamed with(like a wild elephant) time :)

on the whole i am deeply convinced by your experiences of studying EM and choosing the books u hav prescribed..thanks a lot again!

 

[psparky]

I would suggest using the books your schools and professors tell you to buy. Why complicate things? Most of us did fine with these books.

Also...many professors don't even use books. Yes, that's right...sometimes they make up hand outs and run the show all on their own. Typically, I found these are the classes you actually learn more.

 

[Windadct]

Note - most MIT lectures are on line - sometimes it is just best to hear the same thing told a different way.

 

[yungman]

I'm from India...and I'm a UG student doing engineering of *ECommunications* :here imparts with the knowledge of (prerequisites for higher physics) higher calculus (solving DE's of higher orders), complex number theory(complex integrals etc.,), the numerical methods of solving problems, the transforms,graph theory, and the like (more or less the same in almost all the states here) ..

I understand that at your place math learning( and problem solving?) is a problem ( i guess) but considering the depths of practical applications and labs-equipment-profile you have a very good education system..on an average here, every engineering place of study lacks the technicalities and the faculty in their qualities..even I'm self taught and basically that's the reason i choose books that is simple in its sense and have to be tamed with(like a wild elephant) time :)

on the whole i am deeply convinced by your experiences of studying EM and choosing the books u hav prescribed..thanks a lot again!

Sounds like you have a very strong fundamentals. I don't think BSEE here require any math beyond ODE which I don't think is enough. I studied PDE on my own also...which again used the book by Asmar used by San Jose State. Again, I communicated with the professor there, got the assignments and worked through them. I was so surprised that they skip all the parts on 3 dimensions! That's about the most important thing! Even the little bit that is covered in Chapter 3 of Griffiths do cover separation of variables in 3D! They spent only two weeks in the most difficult part of the Bessel and Lagendre function. I did asked the professor how much they cover on Green's, Sturm-Liouville etc. He replied..."Oh well, it really depend on the specific class where there is time left"! I ended up had to re-studied using the PDE book by Strauss.

Problem is there are subjects like EM and PDE that you can only water them down so much and you just never understand the subject and you miss the whole thing. I have at least 8 books on the subject of EM alone, none of the engineer EM book really explain the first part of EM that well including Cheng's. I was struggling with the first few chapters until I finally bite the bullet and studied Griffiths, that really opened my eyes. This is not for the weak of hearts, you just have to go all the way.

If you get the fundamentals down, practical experience can be gain on the job where you get all the nice equipments. Here, we have all the nice equipments, but we need more good people?!

 

[yungman]

Note - most MIT lectures are on line - sometimes it is just best to hear the same thing told a different way.

I actually down loaded and watch the whole series of EM lecture from IIT...India Institute of Technology which is equivalent to MIT here. It was a good lecture, you just need to get over the accent of the professor. I listened to a lecture of multi-variable calculus from MIT, that professor's accent was even worst!

 

[peeyush_ali]

I would suggest using the books your schools and professors tell you to buy. Why complicate things? Most of us did fine with these books.

Also...many professors don't even use books. Yes, that's right...sometimes they make up hand outs and run the show all on their own. Typically, I found these are the classes you actually learn more.

last sem we had signals and systems.. I had been through a hard time following the books prescribed by my lecturers.. that's basically because of the content and the purpose of it was to prepare a student for an exam..very less (a few bits) general reading is focussed in them..which didn't satisfied me ! and i feel so much of lack in my understanding and therefore i had wasted some time.. and i want to bring some changes..
thanks!

 

[peeyush_ali]

Note - most MIT lectures are on line - sometimes it is just best to hear the same thing told a different way.

yeah! you are absolutely right! MIT courseware (and other elite universities') are so-down-to- the-earth medium to attend a lecture by elite people...yes that'd do a lot of help but nevertheless we can't avoid book-reading.. no doubt I owe so much to all those who want to put sources of education almost free and willing people can utilise and exploit them ..

 

[peeyush_ali]

Sounds like you have a very strong fundamentals. I don't think BSEE here require any math beyond ODE which I don't think is enough. I studied PDE on my own also...which again used the book by Asmar used by San Jose State. Again, I communicated with the professor there, got the assignments and worked through them. I was so surprised that they skip all the parts on 3 dimensions! That's about the most important thing! Even the little bit that is covered in Chapter 3 of Griffiths do cover separation of variables in 3D! They spent only two weeks in the most difficult part of the Bessel and Lagendre function. I did asked the professor how much they cover on Green's, Sturm-Liouville etc. He replied..."Oh well, it really depend on the specific class where there is time left"! I ended up had to re-studied using the PDE book by Strauss.

Problem is there are subjects like EM and PDE that you can only water them down so much and you just never understand the subject and you miss the whole thing. I have at least 8 books on the subject of EM alone, none of the engineer EM book really explain the first part of EM that well including Cheng's. I was struggling with the first few chapters until I finally bite the bullet and studied Griffiths, that really opened my eyes. This is not for the weak of hearts, you just have to go all the way.

If you get the fundamentals down, practical experience can be gain on the job where you get all the nice equipments. Here, we have all the nice equipments, but we need more good people?!

often, even here it so happens that the most important topics of a subject (that has the crux ) is neglected(by the profs) considering the parameters like time availabilty before a university sem exam, the length and the extent to which it ought to be taught etc., (and ofcourse the extent of the professor's knowledge & calibre )..just can't help those things...Here, in India, we had a strife by some parts of the public and the government.The severity of it played a dominant role in ruling out the "Odd Topics" from each one of the subjects to be taught to us , as the time that was there for a sem was very very less and things fell into a fast-emergency-pace..! (like we had a 1 month "bandh" (political shut down of colleges/educational bodies as to show the unsatisfactory for the ruling government) )

and yes, i do believe that a physics-book can deal better than an engineering textbook especially topics like EM theory (as far as my intermediate knowledge is concerned n i may find it wrong). fundamentals are always like a platform in space that supports us from falling below when new things come up, they are very essential but not the only ones that are essential.. :)