Symbolic Computation Applications in Power Engineering Education

The complexity of power system problems requires the use of modern, multiple and advanced computing tools and programs. Software applications in power system operation, analysis and management began several decades ago. As power systems have become increasingly complex and moving towards smart grids there are also critical needs to have available similar tools and programs for training power engineering students. An attractive way of teaching power engineering topics is the use of computer algebra systems. These interactive environments for computation, visualization, and modeling are used to analyze a wide variety of engineering and science problems. They are designed to obtain explicit symbolic solutions to engineering and scientific problems and have advanced graphic and visualization capabilities. Moreover, software packages designed to numerically solve problems, such as MATLAB now include symbolic capabilities, transforming them into symbolic-assisted numeric computational tools. This paper focuses on how such software packages can be used to improve power engineering education. The advantages and disadvantages of the use of symbolic computations in power engineering courses are also discussed. Lessons learned are included and feedback and suggestions from other educators are welcomed.