226 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIV. No. i 



other advanced courses in mathematics 

 while in college. 



The problems sent on by the young men 

 in practise, and referred to you acting as 

 a sort of consulting engineer, may vary, as 

 I have experienced it, from those in which 

 in the solutions sent an error was made in 

 using the common logarithm of a number 

 instead of the natural to those where the 

 principles of the calculus involved were 

 beyond what they had had time to study 

 while in college. The problems were 

 always live ones, definitely stated, and the 

 solutions simply must be obtained — if not 

 exactly then at least approximately cor- 

 rect. When they needed their calculus 

 they needed it right away — of course they 

 were going to get the result some way. 



On the other hand, I have heard a pro- 

 fessor of a technical subject in an engi- 

 neering school of merit say in substance 

 that perhaps, after all, calculus ought to 

 be regarded as a culture subject; that it 

 afforded good mental discipline, but that 

 he doubted its value as a tool in engineer- 

 ing practise. 



However much the opinions expressed 

 may have varied, it has always seemed to 

 me that the further a practising engineer 

 advanced in his profession the more respect 

 did he show for the elegant processes of not 

 only the calculus but also of mathematics 

 in general. These men may not themselves 

 be called upon to work out the details of a 

 design involving perhaps principles of the 

 calculus, yet they will be competent in 

 checking to pass on designs executed by 

 others. They will also have a wide ac- 

 quaintance with technical literature, espe- 

 cially that bearing on their special field. 



When the mathematicians and engineers 

 met in a joint conference at Chicago to in- 

 vestigate further the subject of mathe- 

 matics for engineering students there 

 seemed to be no question whatever as to 



the desirability of a thorough knowledge 

 of the calculus, with the ability to use it, 

 on the part of the engineer; the question 

 simply was one of quantity, quality and 

 efficiency in mastering the same. 



The practising engineers, and I am 

 speaking of those who have attained a 

 position of at least average merit, keep in 

 touch with modern developments not only 

 in this country but in others as well, just 

 as far as their knowledge of foreign lan- 

 guages will allow them to follow the litera- 

 ture. Assistants in large libraries will tell 

 you that files of the current foreign tech- 

 nical papers, which may have been neg- 

 lected entirely in undergraduate days, are 

 later eagerly read by men of affairs who 

 seemed to know what they were after. 



While not every advance in technical 

 lines is reported in the journals, yet it 

 would be safe to say that the most of those 

 possessing merit receive recognition in pub- 

 lication, and that the files of a journal for 

 a period of years are apt to reflect quite 

 accurately the thoughts and deeds of engi- 

 neers in the particular field covered by the 

 journal in question. The aims and inter- 

 ests of engineers are clearly reflected — per- 

 haps we may even get their attitude to- 

 ward the calculus. And I would rather 

 judge by what is done than what is said 

 ■ — an engineer early learns the value of 

 results. 



Different engineers will use and be in- 

 terested in different fields of mathematics. 

 Some editors of technical journals wouldn't 

 care to publish an article heavy because of 

 the mathematics used, and yet aU use 

 mathematics more or less — because they 

 must. The question then arises as to the 

 journal in any country chosen as the re- 

 flector of the opinions of engineers on the 

 mathematics used and read during a period 

 of years. 



I have chosen the following journals as 



