Category Archives: Construction

I regularly encounter interesting math, particularly geometry, in my woodworking and remodeling projects.

Geometry and Woodworking

Posted on 9-March-2012 by mathscinotes

A coworker sent the following link to me about an expanding table this morning. It is amazing. Very clever and beautiful use of geometry. The tables cost between $50K and $95K, depending on size. I guess I won't be buying … Continue reading →

Posted in Construction, General Mathematics | Comments Off on Geometry and Woodworking

Air Conditioning Math

Posted on 16-April-2011 by mathscinotes

Introduction I get some strange phone calls. I recently received one from a customer who wanted to know how many "tons of air conditioning" he needed to cool some equipment he had purchased from my company. All air conditioning units … Continue reading →

Posted in Construction, History of Science and Technology | 1 Comment

Calculating Drawer Heights

Posted on 3-December-2010 by mathscinotes

Introduction As you can tell from all the recent posts on construction, I am in the middle of planning some remodeling on my home. One of my projects includes designing a chest of drawers. It turns out that there are … Continue reading →

Posted in Construction | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

The Mathematics of Rafter and Collar Ties

Posted on 29-November-2010 by mathscinotes

Introduction As a boy, I remember seeing a dilapidated farm building that had a set of rafter ties in its attic. I noticed that the rafter ties had pulled away from the rafters they were nailed to. The rafter ties … Continue reading →

Posted in Construction | Tagged , , , | 35 Comments

Carpentry Math – Drawing a Circular Arch

Posted on 22-November-2010 by mathscinotes

I must admit that I find a certain satisfaction in the geometry that pops up in general carpentry. Fine Homebuilding has a nice video on drawing a circular arch that uses a basic geometric construction. This is something that I … Continue reading →

Posted in Construction | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Straight, Level, and the Curvature of the Earth

Posted on 16-November-2010 by mathscinotes

The statement about the curvature of Earth got me thinking. How much does the Earth's surface deviate from a horizontal line over a distance of 100 feet? The contractor's number intuitively seemed wrong because the Earth is round and the deviation from horizontal should be a function of distance. A little math will give me the answer. For consistency's sake, I will perform all computations in US customary units. Continue reading →

Posted in Construction | 143 Comments

Carpentry Math - Drawing an Ellipse

Posted on 14-November-2010 by mathscinotes

Quote of the Day I think the surest sign that there is intelligent life out there in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us. — Calvin and Hobbes Today, I received an issue of Fine … Continue reading →

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My Little Gilligan's Island - Part 1 (The Shower)

Posted on 8-September-2010 by mathscinotes

Introduction My cabin in northern Minnesota is very primitive (the only water is lake water, no heat, no air conditioning, no phone, no Internet) and I do not want to put any money into it until I get my sons … Continue reading →

Posted in Cabin, Construction | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Designing A Stairway For My Cabin

Posted on 24-August-2010 by mathscinotes

I live in Minnesota, where owning a cabin on a lake in the northern half of the state is part of the culture. Here is a picture of my little piece of northern Minnesota. My cabin sits on a small … Continue reading →

Posted in Construction | Tagged | 7 Comments

Fixing My Stairs Using Mathematics

Posted on 21-July-2010 by mathscinotes

The Problem I am a VERY amateur carpenter, but I do love to build things out of wood. One particular specialty area of carpentry that I admire is stair building. I consider stair building (along with roof cutting) to be … Continue reading →

Posted in Construction | 13 Comments