What Engineers Know And How They Know It

To solve their design problems, engineers draw on a vast body of knowledge about how things work. Examining previously unstudied historical cases, this author shows how engineering knowledge is obtained and presents a model to help explain the growth of such knowledge.

To solve their design problems engineers draw in a vast body of knowledge about how things work. This problem-solving knowledge may appear mundane or derivative from science, but in What Engineers Know and How They Know It Walter G. Vincenti shows how sophisticated and "internal" to engineering it really is-and how seemingly simple design requirements can have complex intellectual implications. Examining previously unstudied historical cases, Vincenti shows how engineering knowledge is obtained and, in the book's concluding chapters, presents a model to help explain the growth of such knowledge.