IENG 310 Economic Analysis for Engineers
This course introduces concepts and economic analysis procedures to assist with decision-making and alternative comparisons in engineering projects. Topics include time value of money calculations and cash flow diagrams (CFDs); present worth (PW), annual worth (AW), future worth (FW), and rate of return analysis as methods of comparing project alternatives; depreciation and taxes; costs analyses such as determining break-even points, impact of inflation, and replacement costs.
Prerequisites
4 Undergraduate credits
Effective December 15, 2025 to present
Learning outcomes
General
- Construct a cash flow diagram (CFD) depicting the cash inflows and outflows for an investment alternative.
- Evaluate different techniques to compare engineering project alternatives using present, future, and annual worth analyses.
- Formulate a replacement analysis using a cash flow or opportunity cost approach.
- Compare results of different assets using various depreciation methods.
- Analyze the after-tax implications for investment alternatives using retained earnings and borrowed capital.
- Calculate the break-even value using a break-even analysis approach.