Real-Life Math
Technical salespeople in the wood products industry use math regularly.
Like any salesperson, they use math for costing, pricing and writing up invoices.
But there are some additional math skills required in this industry that other
salespeople might never use.
"Solid trigonometry is used all the time,"
says Russ Radcliffe, a technical salesman in Oregon. "You're doing roof areas,
slopes. We do a lot of work with curved glulams, so you're dealing with the
geometry of curves."
Here's a sample of the typical math a salesperson
in this industry uses daily:
You need to determine how much of your
product is needed by a contractor to complete his project. Then you'll have
to make up a quote for the customer.
The house is 96
feet long by 27 feet wide. The joists (2 x 10s) to support the second floor
of the house are installed 16 inches apart width-wise for the full length
of the house. When you calculate the number of joists you need, make sure
that you add one extra for the last joist at the end of the house. The 2 x
10s are priced at $1.25 per linear foot.
The engineered trusses (the
roof triangle) are spaced 24 inches apart width-wise for the full length of
the house. The trusses must overhang the outside walls by one foot all the
way around the house. They cost $1.50 per linear foot.
Two laminated
beams are needed, one 13 feet long and the other 20 feet long. The laminated
beams cost $3.40 per linear foot.
Now calculate the cost of each material
and the total cost of all the materials.