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Thinking Like an Engineer, 5th edition

Published by Pearson (July 5, 2021) © 2022

  • Elizabeth A. Stephan
  • David R. Bowman
  • William J. Park
  • William David Martin
  • Matthew W. Ohland
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Thinking Like an Engineer provides the essential foundation of skills new engineering students need to prepare for upper-level courses. An emphasis on reading, self-guided inquiry and practice before class helps you get ready for in-class activities. Checkpoints in each chapter provide worked-out problem sets for you to solve using your own logic, helping you develop the problem-solving skills you need to solve more difficult problems. A variety of collaborative problem-solving activities, computer-based activities, and hands-on experiments help you take your learning further and develop the skill set to begin thinking like an engineer.

The 5th Edition incorporates current software releases, including Microsoft® Office 2019®, Office 365®, Excel® Online, and MATLAB® 2020a.

Part 1: Engineering Essentials

Engineering is an . . . Itch!

  1. Everyday Engineering
    • 1.1 Choosing a Career
    • 1.2 Choosing Engineering as a Career
    • 1.3 NAE Grand Challenges for Engineering
    • 1.4 Choosing a Specific Engineering Field
    • 1.5 Engineering Technology—A Related Field
    • 1.6 Gathering Information
    • 1.7 Pursuing Student Opportunities
    • Review Questions
  2. Ethics
    • 2.1 Ethical Decision Making
    • 2.2 Plagiarism
    • 2.3 Engineering Creed
    • 2.4 Social Responsibility
    • In-Class Activities
    • Review Questions
  3. Design, Teamwork, and Project Management
    • 3.1 Design Processes
    • 3.2 Defining the Problem or Need
    • 3.3 Criteria: Defining What Is Important
    • 3.4 Generating Ideas
    • 3.5 Comparing Designs and Making Decisions
    • 3.6 Prototyping and Testing
    • 3.7 Sustainability—A Special Design Criterion
    • 3.8 Working in Teams
    • 3.9 Experimental Design: PERIOD Analysis
    • 3.10 Project Timeline
    • 3.11 Modern Project Management
    • In-Class Activities
    • Review Questions
    • Mini Design Projects
  4. Engineering Communication
    • 4.1 Basic Presentation Skills
    • 4.2 Sample Presentations
    • 4.3 Basic Technical Writing Skills
    • 4.4 Common Technical Communication Formats
    • In-Class Activities
    • Review Questions
  5. Estimation
    • 5.1 General Hints for Estimation
    • 5.2 Estimation by Analogy
    • 5.3 Estimation by Aggregation
    • 5.4 Estimation by Upper and Lower Bounds
    • 5.5 Estimation Using Modeling
    • 5.6 Significant Figures
    • 5.7 Reasonableness
    • 5.8 Notation
    • In-Class Activities
    • Review Questions
  6. Solving Problems
    • 6.1 Problem Types
    • 6.2 SOLVEM—One Approach to Solving Problems
    • 6.3 Representing Final Results
    • 6.4 Avoiding Common Mistakes
    • 6.5 Examples of SOLVEM
    • In-Class Activities
    • Review Questions

Part 2: Ubiquitous Units

  1. Fundamental Dimensions and Base Units
    • 7.1 The Metric System
    • 7.2 Other Unit Systems
    • 7.3 Conversion Procedure for Units
    • 7.4 Conversions Involving Multiple Steps
    • 7.5 Conversions Involving “New” Units
    • 7.6 Derived Dimensions and Units
    • 7.7 Equation Laws
    • 7.8 Conversion Involving Equations
    • In-Class Activities
    • Review Questions
  2. Universal Units
    • 8.1 Force
    • 8.2 Weight
    • 8.3 Density
    • 8.4 Amount
    • 8.5 Temperature
    • 8.6 Pressure
    • 8.7 Gas Pressure
    • 8.8 Energy
    • 8.9 Power
    • 8.10 Efficiency
    • 8.11 Electrical Concepts
    • In-Class Activities
    • Review Questions
  3. Dimensionless Numbers
    • 9.1 Constants with Units
    • 9.2 Common Dimensionless Numbers
    • 9.3 Dimensional Analysis
    • 9.4 Rayleigh’s Method
    • In-Class Activities
    • Review Questions

Part 3: Spectacular Spreadsheets

  1. Excel Workbooks
    • 10.1 Cell References
    • 10.2 Functions in Excel
    • 10.3 Logic and Conditionals
    • 10.4 Lookup and Data Validation
    • 10.5 Conditional Formatting
    • 10.6 Sorting and Filters
    • In-Class Activities
    • Review Questions
  2. Graphical Solutions
    • 11.1 Graphing Terminology
    • 11.2 Proper Plots
    • 11.3 Available Graph Types in Excel
    • 11.4 Graph Interpretation
    • 11.5 Meaning of Line Shapes
    • 11.6 Graphical Solutions
    • In-Class Activities
    • Review Questions
  3. Models and Systems
    • 12.1 Proper Plot Rules for Trendlines
    • 12.2 Linear Functions
    • 12.3 Linear Relationships
    • 12.4 Combinations of Linear Relationships
    • 12.5 Power Functions
    • 12.6 Exponential Functions
    • In-Class Activities
    • Review Questions
  4. Mathematical Models
    • 13.1 Selecting a Trendline Type
    • 13.2 Interpreting Logarithmic Graphs
    • 13.3 Proper Plot Rules for Log Plots
    • 13.4 Converting Scales to Log in Excel
    • 13.5 Dealing with Limitations of Excel
    • In-Class Activities
    • Review Questions
  5. Statistics
    • 14.1 Histograms
    • 14.2 Statistical Behavior
    • 14.3 Distributions
    • 14.4 Cumulative Distribution Functions
    • 14.5 Statistical Process Control (SPC)
    • 14.6 Statistics in Excel
    • 14.7 Statistics in MATLAB
    • In-Class Activities
    • Review Questions

Part 4: Programming Prowess

  1. MATLAB Basics
    • 15.1 Variable Basics
    • 15.2 Numeric Types and Scalars
    • 15.3 Vectors
    • 15.4 Matrices 572
    • 15.5 Character Arrays
    • 15.6 String Arrays
    • 15.7 Cell Arrays
    • 15.8 Structure Arrays
    • In-Class Activities
    • Review Questions
  2. Algorithms, Programs, and Functions
    • 16.1 Algorithms
    • 16.2 Programs
    • 16.3 Functions
    • 16.4 Deriving Mathematical Models
    • 16.5 Debugging MATLAB Code
    • In-Class Activities
    • Review Questions
  3. Input/Output in MATLAB
    • 17.1 Input
    • 17.2 Output
    • 17.3 Plotting
    • 17.4 Trendlines
    • 17.5 Microsoft Excel I/O
    • In-Class Activities
    • Review Questions
  4. Logic and Conditionals
    • 18.1 Algorithms Revisited—Representing Decisions
    • 18.2 Relational and Logical Operators
    • 18.3 Logical Variables
    • 18.4 Conditional Statements in MATLAB
    • 18.5 Application: Classification Diagrams
    • 18.6 switch Statements
    • 18.7 Errors and Warnings
    • In-Class Activities
    • Review Questions
  5. Looping Structures
    • 19.1 Algorithms Revisited—Loops
    • 19.2 while Loops
    • 19.3 for Loops
    • In-Class Activities
    • Review Questions

Comprehension Check Answers

Index

Equation Tables

MATLAB Graphing Properties

APPENDICES

  • A. Basic Engineering Math—Online
  • B. Basic Workbooks—Online
  • C. Basic Excel Graphs—Online
  • D. Basic Excel Trendlines—Online

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