Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Ag engineering PE review: Exam prep, I-C economics and statistics Marybeth Lima, Ph.D., P.E. Cliff & Nancy Spanier Alumni Professor Biological & Agricultural Engineering E-mail: [email protected] Overview “Use of your PE reference books” exercise Economic analysis and statistics (we’ll do hypothesis testing Thursday) Throughout: You will be doing PE style problems (have your references and calculators ready!) Ask questions Part 1: Exam preparation References (must have) Time (in preparing for exam and during exam) Strategies (preparation and test taking) References Are an absolutely critical part of your preparation; you will not pass the exam without the proper references There is a comprehensive list of references in the booklet entitled “A Guide to Professional Licensure for Agricultural, Food, and Biological Systems Engineers.” http://www.asabe.org/pei/index.html Some references are more useful than others References I used for 80% of the exam problems (must haves) A Guide to Professional Licensure for Agricultural, Food, and Biological Systems Engineers The notes from this on-line review course (bound) ASAE Standards (I used the 2000 edition for the 2005 exam and was fine) The Civil Engineering Reference Manual for the PE exam (soil and water, wastewater, pumps, econ tables, INDEX) The Mechanical Engineering Reference Manual for the PE exam (HVAC, machine systems, econ tables, fans, INDEX) You don’t have to bring both PE manuals but have one; I’d recommend civil over mechanical because of broad coverage of topics. If you pick the civil manual, bring ASHRAE Fundamentals or another strong HVAC book. Other references I used Wastewater Engineering, Metcalf and Eddy (used 3rd edition) Henderson, Perry and Young, Principles of Process Engineering Wood Engineering, Gurfinkel (any wood engineering book will do; you need the tables at the back; you may find in civil vs. ag parts of library) A soil physics book MWPS-1: Structures and Environment Handbook (op) Schwab et al. Soil and water conservation engineering (4th edition) References I brought and did not use Irrigation Systems NRCS handbook parts 650 and 651 Goering and Hansen, Engine and tractor power Shuler and Kargi, Bioprocess Engineering Basic Concepts Salvendy, Handbook of Human Factors MWPS-8, Swine Housing and Equipment Handbook Time: preparing for the exam Get your references and get used to using them (tab Standards) Make an index of where specific information is located so that you don’t have to search during the exam Do and re-do all the problems you are given in the on-line course Do problems in your reference books (especially A Guide to Professional Licensure for ag, food and bio engineers) Focus your time: general ag engineering knowledge, your expertise area, your secondary knowledge areas Don’t spend time on what you KNOW you won’t touch (there is something you won’t) The week before the test, do a sample test using the 8 hr exam format (road test caffeine issues, etc.) Time during the exam The exam is designed such that each question takes an average of six minutes There are 1 minute problems and 15-20 minute problems Go through the test and answer questions in the following order: The quick, easy ones that you know you can do The ones you know that you can do that take a little more time Guess (with gusto!) at the ones that are beyond your scope Guess the same letter every time Go back and do the ones that you think you can do that are time consuming If there’s time, go back and check your answers; also go to the ones that are bugging you (if there are any) Strategies You need to develop problem recognition You need to develop flexible thinking Pick what you will not answer and guess with pleasure (I guessed at 10% of the questions on the exam) Many times you can eliminate two of the four choices easily (even with areas you know nothing about) The sample exam in the licensure book was very much like the actual exam in terms of format and somewhat alike in terms of types of problems The exam doesn’t specify which section is which, but you’ll have four or five consecutive questions that are from the same area and then on to the next area) Knowing fundamental knowledge is critical (the PE reference manuals in civil and mechanical were invaluable) Strategies You need to answer ~60% of the problems correctly to pass Having a strong base in general agricultural engineering knowledge will “take you over the top” My experience: for the various expertise areas, about 60% of the problems were solvable without expert knowledge in the area (as long as you had good references and knew where to look for info) The other 40% of the expertise questions were expert knowledge level, involved problems (I skipped P&M, irrigation, and structures/environment expert problems) “Use of your PE reference books” exercise On the PE exam, you want the “1 minute questions” that appear on the test to take 1 minute to answer These questions are testing your basic knowledge of the field and your ability to bring and use the proper references Practice: find the answers to the questions on the following slides Approach First, classify the problem: in which area of the Ag PE do you think the problem is contained? In which references might you find the information? When you find the answer, record the value, the reference in which you found the answer, AND descriptive information within the reference (page number, table number, figure number, equation number, etc.) Question 1 What is the heat of combustion of propane? NOTE: heat of combustion is also referred to as heating value Heat of combustion Question 2 The Atterburg limit test measures what? Question 3 What is the Young’s modulus of elasticity of stainless steel? Question 4 What is the density of air at 10° C? Question 5 What is the curve number for contoured row crops in good hydrologic condition for hydrologic soil group B? Question 6 For a relatively uniform distribution of soil particles 1 mm in diameter, what is the largest sieve size that these particles would not pass through? Question 7 What is the typical concentration of suspended solids (SS) in septage? Question 8 What is the equilibrium moisture content of rough rice at 30° C and 80% RH? Question 8 Questions on this exercise? In my experience, 10-20% of the questions on the exam were of this nature Fast if you had the right references and knew where to find the information 1-C: Economics and statistics A broad area with applications “across the board” (5% of exam questions) Statistics is commonly used because you need descriptive information to help interpret data Economics is commonly used for making engineering decisions My suggestion for stats and econ: use the CE or ME PE reference book (Lindeburg) Chapter on statistics Table at the back (z-chart) Get a t-chart as well!! Chapter on engineering economic analysis Full interest tables at the back Statistics basics Measures of central tendency Measures of dispersion Mean, median, mode Standard deviation, variance, range, coefficient of variance For PE: have equations to determine measures of central tendency and dispersion There are slight differences in equations depending on if you are working with a population or a sample Statistics: Distributions A number of distributions can be used to describe various data sets or can be used to solve engineering problems in relation to these data sets Sampling distributions involving means: Normal (aka Gaussian): our focus Student t distribution Sampling distributions involving variance: F distribution Chi-Square z xm s Normal distribution: review Symmetrical distribution with mean m and standard deviation s Area under curve represents 100% of possibilities 50% to the right of the mean 50% to the left of the mean A value is higher than the mean for this distribution to the right of the mean, lower to the left of the mean x represents where you are in the distribution; z is the number of standard deviations away from the mean that you are z is positive to right of mean z is negative to left of mean z xm s Reading the z-chart P(0.59 z 2.18) Typical PE style problems The population mean for college students’ heights is 67 inches, and the population standard deviation is and 4 inches. These data are normally distributed. What percentage of college students have heights less than 71 inches? Solution In what range would you find the middle 70% of the data? (pick closest z value, do not interpolate) Solution You try this one: 90% of college students have heights greater than what value? Solution Sampling We almost never work with populations We take samples and try to draw conclusions about a population based on a sample Use z chart for large samples (n>30) Use t chart for small samples Your statistical equations change a little to reflect the fact that you have a sample z xm s x m z s n Confidence intervals Commonly used in research and process control 95% confidence intervals are common For example, what is the 95% confidence interval of a set of 50 data points; the mean of this data set is 150 and the standard deviation is 15. m zs m z 2 s n x t 2 s n Solution Questions on statistics? Tips: Get a general reference with equations and make sure you have a z chart and a t chart get z from A, and A from z Know confidence intervals Look at process control and hypothesis testing 1-C: Engineering economic analysis Typically easy questions on the exam if you know how to use factor tables (slang, interest tables) Tabulated in the ME reference manual, A-132-150 or CE manual A-112130 Types of problems in engineering economic analysis Decision making: you have a material you’re trying to choose, or a part, or a machine. Compare which is most economical given present cost, maintenance costs, etc. Replacement/retirement analysis (when should you replace or retire a product?) Rate of return problem (to find percentage return on an investment) Break even point on an investment Loan repayment (how long will it take) Economic life analysis (life cycle costs) Benefit/cost analysis (do the benefits outweigh the costs) Engineering econ Almost all engineering econ problems will involve cash flows; it is like a material balance using money instead of mass. Types of cash flows: Single payment cash flows (P or F) Uniform series cash flow (A) An amount that is the same every month, like a house or car payment Gradient series cash flow (not used much) (G) P = present value of money F = future value of money A value that goes up or down the same amount every time period You use types of cash flows to compare alternatives and solve econ problems Engineering econ Cash flow problems can be calculated using equations or are tabulated for fast problem solving Example If you put $1,000 into a savings account and the annual interest rate on the account was 6%, how much money would be in the account after 5 years? The equation to convert a present value to a future value is F P (1 i ) n Engineering econ (1 + i)n is called the single payment compound amount factor, and is tabulated for various combinations of i (interest rate) and n (time period) The notation (symbol) for the single payment compound factor is (F/P, i%, n) This notation indicates that F (future $ amount) is unknown, that you have P (the present value), and given the interest rate (i) in percent and the time period (n), you can find F. Engineering econ Back to our example: If you put $1000 into a savings account and the annual interest rate on the account was 6%, how much money would be in the account after 5 years? Solve by equation: F = 1000(1 + 0.06)5 = $1338.23 Solve by interest table Engineering econ F P (F/P, i%, n) Engineering econ Example solve by interest table: Go to F/P column with n = 5, for table with i = 6%: Factor = 1.3382 F P (F/P, i%, n) F = ($1000) 1.3382 = $1338.2 Engineering econ Biggest thing to keep in mind: make sure that your UNITS match; interest rate, n, and dollar amounts may be given on a different basis You try: How much should you put into a 10% effective annual rate savings account in order to have $10,000 in four years? (10% interest table included on next page) Engineering econ Engineering econ You are given a future amount of money (F) and ask to solve for a present amount of money Solve using the i = 10% interest table, with n = 4 years; (P/F, 10%, 4) = 0.6830 P = F (P/F, 10%, 4) = $10,000*0.6830 = $6,830 Notice that n is given in years and i is given as an annual interest rate (per year); units match Engineering econ Maintenance costs for a machine are $250/year. What is the present worth of these maintenance costs over a 12 year period if the annual interest rate is 10%? Given: Find: Engineering econ You have A, you need P: Go to i = 10% interest chart and go to the P/A column (remember in this notation your unknown comes first): (P/A, 10%, 12) = 6.8137 P = A (P/A) = -250*6.8137 = -$1703 (negative sign indicates a cash sink or loss of $) More complicated Question 104, webinar questions on general Ag Eng principles As manager of a large fleet of farm equipment, you are contracting with an outside mechanics shop to have all complete engine overhauls for tractors, combines, and harvesters at the rate of $7,200 per engine. You have determined the investment needed to construct a new building and equip it to overhaul the equipment yourself would be $180,000. The estimated annual cost for taxes and insurance for the facilities and equipment is 1.25% of the purchase price. The operating cost to perform engine overhauls at a facility that you own would be $5,500 per engine. The equipment and facilities are assumed to have a life of 12 years with a salvage value of $35,000. Interest rate is 7% per year. The minimum number of engines to be overhauled per year to make the investment in equipment and facilities economically feasible is: NOTE: use 7% interest table (extra handout) Solution Approach: You are comparing two alternatives, outsourcing vs. doing it yourself Outsourcing: $7200 per engine “in-sourcing”: $5500 per engine, plus facilities, equipment, taxes, and insurance (and minus salvage value) You have to compare these two alternatives using the same basis Choose A Identify which type of cash flow you have in each situation Set the outsourcing term = in-sourcing term Solve for x, where x is the number of engines needed to break even Solution Outsourcing: $7200/engine * x engines, or $7200x “In-sourcing:” $5500/engine * x engines, or $5500x New building and equipment = $180,000 (P) Interest = 1.25% of building/equipment per year (A) 0.0125*180,000 = $2250 Salvage value = $35,000 12 years from now (F) Convert to A Convert to A Use equations (as in solution online) OR (EASIER): use interest tables! Solution Solution Take home points If your brain feels like it’s leaking out of your ears right now, don’t worry, it’s normal Best things I did for the PE: Had a reference book with a great index Had a list of where to find critical equations and important information Time management tips GOOD LUCK!!