A little geometry is needed in the plumbing trade. Whether you are working with roof drains, figuring floor drains, or doing almost any part of plumbing paperwork, you may be using geometry. I hated geometry in school, but i’ve learned how to use it in my trade and how to make the use of it much more simple than I ever used to know it to be. I’ll share some of my secrets on the subject.
Plumbers use geometry to find the distance around objects, to find the area of objects, to determine volume capacities, and so forth. A lot of plumbers probably don’t think about what they are doing as geometry, but it is. So, let me show you some fast ways to solve your on-the-job problems by using geometry that you may not even realize is geometry. Think of what we are about to do as just good old plumbing stuff that has to be done.
Rectangles are squares, right? Wrong, they are rectangles. Squares are squares. Got ya! Now that I have your attention, let’s talk about the methods used to determine perimeter measurements for a rectangle. A flat roof on a commercial building is a good example of a rectangle that a plumber might need to work with for rainwater drainage. This exercise is too simple. To find the perimeter (P), you multiply the length (L) by 2 and add it to the width (W) that has also been multiplied by two. The formula looks like this: P = 2L X 2W. Now let’s put this into real numbers. Assume that you have a roof that is 80 feet long and 40 feet wide. What is the perimeter of the roof? First, do the math for the length. Taking 80 X 2 will give you 160. Do the width next. You will find that 40 X 2 is 80. When you add the 80 to the 160, you get 240, which is the perimeter of the roof. Not too tough, huh? Didn’t I tell you that I’d make this stuff easy?
A Square
A square has a perimeter measurement. Do you know how to find it? This one really is too simple. Add up the measurements of the four equal sides and you have the perimeter. in other words, if you are dealing with a flat roof that is square with dimensions of 50 feet on each side, the perimeter is 200 feet. This is established by multiplying 50 X 4. They don’t get any easier than this one.
