Source: https://mokxi.com/teachers/plans/electronics-math Updated: 2026-11-11 Lesson plan # Math for electronics lesson plan Metric prefixes, scientific notation, Ohm's law rearranged, ratios and tolerance, watts and squares, RMS and decibels: every answer set on a real part and proved on a meter, ending in a component calculator. 5 chapters, 8 lessons, about 6 hours, no board. Every lesson runs in the browser, with nothing to install. Start a class from this course The unit ## Objectives and materials ### By the end, students can - Kilo, milli and micro, and numbers with an exponent. - Solve for any letter, and make a divider hit a percent. - Watts and squares, and the square roots inside AC. - Logs that turn ratios into numbers you can add. - A component calculator that you redo for a new supply. ### Materials for the whole unit - Bench power supply - Capacitor - Full-size breadboard - Function generator - LED - Multimeter - Oscilloscope - Resistor x 4 Every part is already on the simulator’s bench, so there is nothing to buy or hand out. The counts are the most any one lesson uses, if you build it on real breadboards too. Chapter 1. About 1 h 30 min ## Big and small numbers Kilo, milli and micro, and numbers with an exponent. Lesson | Time | What students do Kilo, milli, micro and mega Three resistors from 5 V to ground and a meter on the bottom one: read kilohms, milliamps and microamps off real parts, and move between prefixes without a calculator. | 45 min - Three equal resistors - Type a value in kilohms - Amps, milliamps, microamps - Up to mega - The prefix ladder in your head - Quiz: predict the meter Scientific notation A 12 V supply into one resistor: write currents as 1.2e-2 and 2.55e-6, multiply and divide by adding exponents, and check every answer against the resistor's own reading. | 45 min - Numbers with an exponent - Dividing is subtracting exponents - Messy numbers - Engineering notation - Small resistance, big current - Quiz: predict the current ### Materials - Bench power supply - Full-size breadboard - Multimeter - Resistor x 3 ### Check for understanding Each student finishes "Scientific notation" on their own, without opening the hints. The simulator checks 6 of its 6 steps as they go. Then ask each one to explain, in a sentence or two, the last thing it asked of them: "Quiz: predict the current". Chapter 2. About 1 h 30 min ## Ohm's law and ratios Solve for any letter, and make a divider hit a percent. Lesson | Time | What students do Ohm's law, three ways round Solve V = I x R for whichever letter is missing: find a current, pick a resistor for a current you want, pick a voltage, and read a current limit as Ohm's law in disguise. | 45 min - Find the current - Find the resistance - Find the voltage - A current limit is Ohm's law too - The triangle - Quiz: predict the current Ratios, percent and tolerance A divider is a ratio machine: make a tap at half, at 20 percent, then knock two resistors 5 percent high and work out how far the output moves. | 45 min - A divider is a fraction - Exactly half - Solve for a percent - Tolerance: 5 percent off - Percent change, the right way - Quiz: predict the tap ### Materials - Bench power supply - Full-size breadboard - Multimeter - Resistor x 3 ### Check for understanding Each student finishes "Ratios, percent and tolerance" on their own, without opening the hints. The simulator checks 6 of its 6 steps as they go. Then ask each one to explain, in a sentence or two, the last thing it asked of them: "Quiz: predict the tap". Chapter 3. About 1 h 30 min ## Powers and roots Watts and squares, and the square roots inside AC. Lesson | Time | What students do Watts, squares and power ratings P = V x I, then P = I squared x R and V squared over R: why half the volts is a quarter of the heat, and how to pick a resistor that will not cook. | 45 min - Power is volts times amps - Half the volts, a quarter of the heat - Work backwards with a square root - Pick a rating - Why squares rule the grid - Quiz: predict and pick Square roots and RMS A function generator into a load, a scope for the peak and a meter for the RMS: why 1.414 shows up everywhere in AC, and why a square wave and a triangle break the rule. | 45 min - Peak and RMS - Peak from RMS - The current peaks too - A square wave breaks the rule - Quiz: a triangle - Roots you will meet again ### Materials - Bench power supply - Full-size breadboard - Function generator - Multimeter - Oscilloscope - Resistor ### Check for understanding Each student finishes "Square roots and RMS" on their own, without opening the hints. The simulator checks 6 of its 6 steps as they go. Then ask each one to explain, in a sentence or two, the last thing it asked of them: "Roots you will meet again". Chapter 4. About 45 min ## Decibels Logs that turn ratios into numbers you can add. Lesson | Time | What students do Decibels and logs An RC low pass on a function generator: find the -3 dB point, see -20 dB a decade above it, and turn voltage ratios into decibels and back with a log. | 45 min - Minus three dB - A decade up: -20 dB - A decade down: 0 dB - Minus six dB is half - Why logs - Quiz: fifty times the corner ### Materials - Capacitor - Full-size breadboard - Function generator - Multimeter - Oscilloscope - Resistor ### Check for understanding Each student finishes "Decibels and logs" on their own, without opening the hints. The simulator checks 6 of its 6 steps as they go. Then ask each one to explain, in a sentence or two, the last thing it asked of them: "Quiz: fifty times the corner". Chapter 5. About 50 min ## Boss project A component calculator that you redo for a new supply. Lesson | Time | What students do Boss: the component calculator One bench supply, three jobs: pick an LED resistor for 20 mA, a divider for 3.3 V and a load resistor's power rating, then swap the supply to 12 V and do it all again. | 50 min - The LED resistor - The divider - The load and its rating - New supply: 12 V - The divider at 12 V - Check the load, and make it yours - Your calculator card ### Materials - Bench power supply - Full-size breadboard - LED - Multimeter - Resistor x 4 ### Check for understanding Each student finishes "Boss: the component calculator" on their own, without opening the hints. The simulator checks 7 of its 7 steps as they go. Then ask each one to explain, in a sentence or two, the last thing it asked of them: "Your calculator card". Your class ## Teach this unit as a class Start a class from this course and its 8 lessons are assigned in one go, in order. Students join with a six-character code or printed login cards, and each one’s work comes back to you. The class tools are free for 30 days for one class of up to 20 students, with no card. The lessons themselves are free either way. Start a class from this course See the demo class More units ## Other lesson plans Electronics basics 20 lessons, about 10 h. Embedded on the Arduino Uno 16 lessons, about 12 h. Embedded on the ESP32-C3 13 lessons, about 11 h. Embedded on the Raspberry Pi Pico 7 lessons, about 6 h. Build your own fight stick 5 lessons, about 4 h. Embedded on the STM32F411 6 lessons, about 6 h. C++ on a board 13 lessons, about 10 h. Digital logic and memory 4 lessons, about 4 h. Interactive devices on the Uno 9 lessons, about 8 h. From gates to a computer 23 lessons, about 16 h. Build a claw machine 8 lessons, about 6 h. Every unit All the courses as ready-made units, on the teachers page.