MEPX
Chapter 1 of 12All chapters
  1. 1What engineers do
  2. 2The design process
  3. 3Forces and loads
  4. 4Stress, strain and materials
  5. 5Structures
  6. 6Mechanisms
  7. 7Electrical basics
  8. 8Energy in machines
  9. 9Manufacturing and tolerances
  10. 10Safety factors and failure
  11. 11Testing and standards
  12. 12Responsibility

Chapter 1 of 12

What engineers do

Solving under constraints.

The job

Science asks what is true. Engineering asks what can be built with the materials, money and time available, and accepts that the answer is a compromise rather than an optimum.

  • Every design trades cost, weight, strength, time and risk against each other.
  • The best solution is rarely the cleverest one; it is the one that keeps working.

The branches

Mechanical, civil, electrical, chemical and software engineering share the same method and differ in materials. The habits in this course apply across all of them.