Intro to Geotechnical Engineering

Solving quantitative problems is a crucial aspect of scientific and engineering work. Your colleagues, supervisors, and clients will make decisions based on your calculations. There may be a whole lot riding on your work, including your clients' or the taxpayers' money, people's health and safety, and/or our understanding of Earth processes.

As a result, it is important to base your calculations on a logical progression of steps, present them neatly and carefully, and explain them in words and terms your reader can understand.

Below are some guidelines for approaching the task.

START THIS WAY:

w Start with lots of clean scratch paper.
w Write information given, and write what you need to find.
w Sketch a diagram illustrating the situation.
w Decide whether you need additional information, and if you do, find it.
w Determine if you can use established formulas, and if so, make sure they are applicable to your situation.
w Break the process into several smaller parts. Solve each part in a logical sequence of steps that take you from what you know to what you want to know.
w Use dimensional analysis (see this helpful link!). It will help guide your solution.
w At each step, write a brief explanation--in words!--of what you are doing.

WHEN YOU HAVE AN ANSWER:

w Check to be sure your answer is reasonable. If possible, try to imagine how big, how much, or how long the final quantity is in real, physical terms. Does it make sense? If appropriate, try comparing your answer to published typical values for the quantity in question.

w Check to see that you included units of measurement, and that the answer is in a convenient unit of measurement and a meaningful order of magnitude.

w Check the number of significant figures (significant digits) in the answer.   See these resources for a review:
                     http://www.chem.tamu.edu/class/fyp/mathrev/mr-sigfg.html
      OR         http://www.usca.edu/chemistry/genchem/sigfig.htm and http://www.usca.edu/chemistry/genchem/sigfig2.htm

PRESENT YOUR WORK EFFECTIVELY:

w When you are confident of your solution, copy your work onto a clean sheet of paper.

w Write no unexplained numbers or words on the paper--everything must be explained in words. Brief phrases are useful for this.

w Make it easy to read: leave lots of blank space, and put a box around the final answer.

w On graphs, label axes (include units of measurement!), give title and date; and write chapter and problem number.

w Some answers are best given in tables. If your answer includes a table, make it neat. Each column needs a heading; the heading must include units of measurement. If applicable, show a sample calculation after the table.

w Start each new problem on a new sheet of paper.

w Write your name on every page.

w Staple or clip pages together, and trim ragged edges.

MAKE A FINAL CHECK:

w Check again to see that your answer is reasonable and your logic can be followed and understood by an informed reader.

w Once again, check to see that you wrote the units of measurement at every step in the solution. This really is important!