Engineering

Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process^[1] to solve technical problems, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve systems. Modern engineering comprises many subfields which include designing and improving infrastructure, machinery, vehicles, electronics, materials, and energy systems.^[2]

The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more specialized fields of engineering, each with a more specific emphasis on particular areas of applied mathematics, applied science, and types of application. See glossary of engineering.

The term engineering is derived from the Latin ingenium, meaning "cleverness" and ingeniare, meaning "to contrive, devise".^[3]

^ Hammack, William; Anderson, John (February 16, 2022). "Working in the Penumbra of Understanding". Issues in Science and Technology. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and Arizona State University. Archived from the original on August 3, 2023. Retrieved August 3, 2023. The method used by engineers to create artifacts and systems—from cellular telephony, computers and smartphones, and GPS to remote controls, airplanes, and biomimetic materials and devices—isn't the same method scientists use in their work. The scientific method has a prescribed process: state a question, observe, state a hypothesis, test, analyze, and interpret. It doesn't know what will be discovered, what truth will be revealed. In contrast, the engineering method aims for a specific goal and cannot be reduced to a set of fixed steps that must be followed.
^ definition of "engineering" from the https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/ Archived February 16, 2021, at the Wayback Machine Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University
^ "About IAENG". iaeng.org. International Association of Engineers. Archived from the original on January 26, 2021. Retrieved December 17, 2016.