Don’t be obtuse! Every angle is the right angle when wearing acute dress! (Math humor. 😊)
Now, while I’d love to talk only about this gorgeous piece from the Gabrielle Union collection, fashion isn’t the only area into which we’re delving. (Ha! Did it again 😂)
Understanding area and surface area are very important, especially if you’re going into the fields of construction or architecture. All three-dimensional structures begin with, at least, a plane, (a flat, two-dimensional surface.) Throughout history, the circle, triangle, square, and rectangle have been manipulated to create astonishing, functional designs; the first being the pyramid.
To prevent collapse in the building being constructed - behind me in the photo – the architects and engineers had to figure out how to create a three-dimensional structure from a two-dimensional drawing. Oh, and they had to do it for each piece – each window, each support column, and each small part that makes a whole – like the squares inside the rectangles making up the perimeter of the large rectangular frame. One miscalculation and disaster could strike!
Finding the area of a rectangle, or square, is quite easy! Just multiply the length by the width, that’s it. Area is always measured in square units; inches, meters, feet - whatever the unit - it’s squared.
Modern architecture is where things start to get extra cool! Think of engineers and construction workers as really big, really lucky kids with enormous Legos, that can mold to any shape their artistic pal (the architect) can dream up! To build this fantastical, futuristic high-rise they need to know how to find the area of a triangle, like the one I’ve created in the picture.
The area of a triangle is one-half base times height. Just make sure you know which triangle you’re dealing with; right-angled, acute or obtuse. (Ahhh, see, now my joke makes sense! 😊)
To best understand, picture I’ve taken down the cylindrical water tower in the photo and flattened it into two circles (the top and bottom) and one rectangle (the “body” unrolled.)
We’ve previously learned that to get the circumference of the circles, we multiply pi by radius squared. Because we have two circles, we multiply two times pi times radius squared. After finding the area of the rectangle, remembering we also need the height, because the rectangle “wraps” around to sit on and support the circles:
area = 2 π r(squared) + 2 π r h
We add those two up and voila! Surface area!
Bonus points if you can explain why it looks like I’m able to grab the cylinder in the picture! 🏆
Photographer: @jaxonphotogroup http://www.jaxonphotogroup.com
