Peer Legacy for ECE301
All students who have previously taken ECE301 are welcome to use this page to leave comments/give advice to future students.
- I think the key to doing well in ECE301 is a combination of both understanding the material conceptually (which helps in any class) and doing plenty of practice problems. You should practice doing geometric sums and knowing how to manipulate sums using a change of variables to "reconfigure your sum" in the right format. The textbook - "Signals & Systems" by Oppenheim is really an excellent textbook, so utilize it to your own advantage. Lastly, if you aren't following the material during lecture, be sure to get help by either attending office hours with your professor or going to the teaching assistants! --rscheidt
- Make sure when you reach the end of the course that you still remember why you're using convolution in the first place. "The output of a LTI system is the input convolved with the impulse response of the system." Why? How is the math producing the results you expect? --weim
- As a senior undergraduate student, I will not say ECE301 is a hard class. But it was hard because it was the first time to apply mathematical theories to an electrical engineering course. We certainly use math in every engineering class but mainly for computing numbers. In ECE 301, students need to understand concepts through math. All the concepts are built up by mathematical equations. In order to see what each concept does, we just have to work out each mathematical equation, where we are able to analyze the results. For that class, math is the foundation but not the goal. Simply working on equations and numbers are not enough. Only when you understand the meanings behind formats, you are able to find small tricks in the exam, which are professors’ favorite. Also, the theories are very dry. I had to spend the whole semester to understand simple concepts. I would say it is possible for a student to get a good grade only working on math problems. But it requires a large amount of time on exercise. Even thought a student understood concepts, he or she still needs exercise intensively. Without understanding, this class will drag down other classes’ grades. Indeed, it is not hard. The same as any other ECE classes, the only advice I have: understand the materials and do the exercise.--pan11
- I took 301 in Fall 2008 and it has been one of my favorite classes yet. I know several people will cringe at this statement, especially my friends in CompE ;) , but the fact of the matter remains; 301 lets you visualize processes in a way that no other class does. And that in my opinion is the key to doing well in 301: visualization.
If you attempt to memorize formulae, and mug up derivations; you might do ok, but to really do well and actually appreciate the subject, you need to visualize what happens to the functions as you do stuff to them. In other words, don't see it as a bunch of transforms and equations; you'll hate it then. Also, visual understanding helps because:
A)This makes it easier for you to understand the math B)Your answers consist of a few nicely labeled pictures instead of 2 pages of squiggly equations Dlamba 01:39, 14 December 2009 (UTC)
- Having done higher level courses, I realized that 301 is teaching all possible fundamentals. Pay special attention to Sampling and Convolution if you intend to take any courses related to signal processing. Also, your concepts of Fourier and Z transforms should be absolutely clear for signal processing (DSP ECE 438).--Hersh Lalwani 14:55, 11 December 2009 (UTC)
- The mistake which i made in my ECE 301 class was that i didn't clear my doubts in many of the concepts.But this realization hit me hard in my ECE 438 class,which is the successor of ECE 301.The various topics in ECE 301 are tough,but the moment you start understanding and solving the mathematics behind those concepts,things will be easier.Complex analysis,functions,limits,geometric series lies in the heart of signals.Plotting various signals seemed so abstruse initially,but an understanding of the math behind it,will clarify all doubts.It is a very important and a fundamental course for many other future interesting courses.--apanja
