| Back | Bechara's Math Interview My uncle is a sculptor. I had always thought that his use for Math would be minimal. Now I know better! It turned out he uses Math in every day in his life. He is the type of sculptor who chisels rocks to get certain forms or shapes. The forms or shapes differ a great deal, depending on the client. Sometimes, the client simply needs a specially designed stone piece for an arch, and sometimes it could be a sculpture for his garden, etc…  One of the ways he uses Math is in creating his designs. The part of Math he uses here is Geometry. Here he makes use of the various geometric shapes, from the circle, to the square, to cubes, cones, prisms, etc. Next, he must choose the size of the design, and the measurement of the different sides. This depends a great deal on the client, and the on the type of sculpture he needs. Based on this, he must then choose the size of the stone he must use. He must check out lots of stones, before he can find one that would be suitable. Once that is done, he will then have to do some calculations to figure out the type of car he will need to move this stone, or rock. Then there is the computation part of Math. That he uses when paying for the stone. Most of all though he uses it in pricing his sculptors. He estimates how much time it will take him to make the sculpture and he multiplies that by the hourly or daily charge. This will give him the total cost of his time. Next he will add to that the cost of the tools used, the cost of the stone. This will result in a certain figure. He adds a certain percentage on that for profit, and voila… the final price! | Back |