Question

Identify an application for the mathematical tools you learned this week that you find interesting or important. State why you find it interesting and/or important. Explain your strategy for converting the specifics of the application to a format that can be solved using the mathematical tools you learned this week. Solve the application. If you use an excel spreadsheet in your solution, attach it to your post. If not, provide a detailed explanation of your solution steps. Explain your strategy for checking your solution.

Answer 1

Compass - Mathemtical tool and its uses..

A technical drawing tool named drawing compass is used to draw circles or arcs. This tool is also known as a pair of compasses, or simply as a compass. It can also be used for measuring distances or more precisely distances on the maps. Apart from that, drawing compasses are used in navigation, mathematic, drafting and any many other disciplines.

Materials of which compasses are made are usually plastic or metal. Drawing compass has two parts connected by a hinge so the radius of the circle that is drawn can be adjusted and changed. Usually at the end of one part is a needle and at the end of another is a pencil.

First drawing compasses were found in the archeological digging of ancient Rome. Every drawing compass before the eighteenth century didn't have a pen but a needle instead so it scratches the surface. By the twentieth century, drawing compasses were spread widely throughout the world.

Today, because of the development of computer aided design software or CAD usage of drawing compasses is reduces, but it still finds its usage in schools and colleges in teaching technical drawing and geometry.

The handle of a drawing compass is about 1.25 centimeters long, and it is made that users can grip it between thumb and pointer finger.

Measuring compass can have two different types of legs. One type is the adjustable leg that serves as the support for a needle, and another is a steady immovable leg which servers for adjustments in drawing circles. There is also a screw on a hinge which holds those two legs in position. That hinge is also adjustable, and the compass will be more accurate if the screw is tight. On a steady leg of a drawing compass is a needlepoint. The function of a needle the point is to be center point of a drawn circle. The pencil lead purpose is to draw a circle on a material. There is also a nut that is used to adjust pencil lead to be in place.

Uses

Drawing compass can draw circles on a specific material (wood, metal, plastic…) by putting a needle on a center of a circle that should be drawn and rotating it around while keeping the same angle on the hinge. If the hinge is moved, the radius of a circle can be adjusted.

Compasses can also be used for measuring distances on maps. Those compasses are called dividing compasses, and they have two needles instead of one. The measurement can be done by measuring how many times the fixed compass can fit in some distance.