> I had a similar debate with a physics prof once in college - the course
> was for engineering students, but I was a CS student, so I'd have
> reference materials available to ensure that I was coding the forumulas
> properly in my simulation - and if I didn't remember the exact formula
> for calculating lift based on a particular airfoil shape, I wouldn't
> guess, I'd look it up.

Guess it varies from place to place, in my engineering exams we had 
official data books that contained pretty much all the standard 
formulas. The exams were more about how to solve particular problems, 
which usually involved using several equations (and often a good bit of 
calculus) rather than seeing who had spent the most time memorising the 
formula.

But of course the shorter ones you used most often you remembered 
anyway, but the point was you didn't have to waste hours trying to 
remember them exactly.

Post a reply to this message