Real-Life Math
You're a sales engineer who specializes in agricultural engineering.
The company you work for designs and supplies innovative irrigation systems
to large farm operations.
Currently, you're hoping to make a sale designing
a system for a company that is developing a new corn seed. This corn will
require less irrigation than other varieties.
Math is an important skill
for sales engineers. "Forget it if you haven't done well in math," says Walter
Linck, a sales engineer. "I'm not talking at a calculus level, just a good
aptitude for numbers and the ability to work basic arithmetic."
"In
this job you have to do some number crunching," agrees Carrie Spicer, a network
sales engineer. "You have to come up with quotes and create proposals, but
there are no really extremely complex math calculations."
Before you
put together a proposal for the irrigation system, you need to figure out
a few things about how much water will actually be needed to water this new
crop.
This is a formula you use to calculate the flow rate of water
for the irrigation system.
Q = (453 x A x D) / (F x H)
Q = Flow
rate (gallons per minute)
A = Total area irrigated (acres)
D = Depth
of water applied (inches)
F = Irrigation frequency (days)
H = Hours
of operation per day
For this system, you have a 60-acre plot. You
need to apply 1 inch of water every 3 days for 15 hours per day.
What
is the flow rate of water (in gallons per minute) that you will need for this
system?
(This math problem is based on information
from the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.)