Real-Life Math
You are a plumber who is working on a special construction project.
You are installing the piping in an aquatic center for a major athletic competition.
Today
you are working on the dive tank, where in a few months the best divers from
all over the world will compete. Right now, however, it looks more like a
big cement pit.
You are organizing a construction schedule for the
tank. The tile setter has just finished installing the tiles. The paste that's
used to glue the tiles needs 48 hours to dry before you can put the water
in the tank.
The pool maintenance people are asking you when they can
come in to test the pumps. The pumps keep clean freshwater coming in and out
of the tank.
The dimensions of the dive tank are 10 meters wide x 12.5
meters wide x 5.3 meters deep. You are using a 75-millimeter fill pipe that
produces 5 liters of water per second of flow. (Remember, there are 1,000
liters per cubic meter.)
How many hours will it take to fill the
tank with water so pool maintenance can test the pumps?
Are you
asking yourself, "Hey, what's with these metric measurements?" If you are,
note that plumbers have to be adept at doing calculations in both metric and
imperial systems, according to experts.
While the United
States uses the imperial system, most of the rest of the world uses metric.
At some time you may find yourself ordering parts or using code books that
use a different system than you're used to. Yet you still have to know what
you're doing.