Math

I remember in school trying to figure out why any one needs math in the "real" world. Now, as an adult, I wish I knew more math. It is not that I want to be a math genius but that I would remember more of the formulas that were taught in school. The older I get, the more I like math. It is not ambiguous. It either is or isn't. In construction math is used frequently. You need to know how to figure areas, length x width. You need to know volume, length x width x height. Pi, π, is important. It is used in many formulas, like areas and volumes. Think of how often you look at circles trying to figure area only later to be confused by the radius or diameter.

Information on π can be found by clicking the link below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi

You may also use conversions. Convert square inches, 144, into square feet, 1. Or cubic inches, 1728, into cubic feet, 1. All construction uses math. Stairs are laid out using math. Squaring a building uses math. If the tape measure is too short to measure, the old Pythagorean Theorem is used.

If you are interested in a little site that explains it with some interactive drawings, click the first link. The second link is for the wikipedia information.

http://www.ies.co.jp/math/java/geo/pythagoras.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagorean_theorem

I am sure there are many little math formulas that I forgot to mention and if someone in school says they will never use math in the real world, just give them some examples how they might.