How Does Math Help Build a Car?
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Drafting
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Artists and car designers who draw models of cars for production need to understand perspective to make their drawings and blueprints look right. This includes a knowledge of angles and line lengths, as well as different geometric shapes. Car wheels, for instance, are really circles, hood tops are arcs, and windows are quadrilaterals.
Parts
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Each part of an automobile has to fit together like a glove, or the automobile won't work properly or be safe. Math is used to measure every part and to make sure those parts are the right size to come together as designed. This includes everything from the dimensions of screws to the width of the frame.
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Assembly
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Much of the assembly of cars now is done with the help of robots and other technology. The robots are controlled by specialized computer programs, and these programs must specify exact parameters for operation. They must tell the robot, for instance, to hoist a part x number of feet, apply x pounds of pressure, and distribute x gallons of paint per square inch. Additionally, the assembly line must be built under exact dimensions, so there is ample room for assembly to occur safely and efficiently---if a robot arm needs to swing back and forth, for example, the robot needs to be positioned to have a certain number of feet in clearance.
Pricing
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Auto manufacturers want to make a profit on the cars they sell, so they have to keep track of the cost of every single part. Math is used to calculate which parts manufacturer can deliver the best price on needed parts and materials. It also is used to determine the final cost of the vehicle. If parts cost x dollars and labor costs y, and the company wants to make a profit percentage of z, for example, then the company would use the following formula to determine the sell price: total cost = (x+y)z+(x+y)
Production Ratio
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Math is used to determine how many cars can be produced an hour, day, week or month. If an auto manufacturer receives an order from corporate to increase production by x cars a day, for example, the speed of the assembly line has to be adjusted by a particular percentage to accommodate the total number of cars needed. All of the robots of the assembly line would need to have their speeds adjusted through their programming or manually by the same percentage.
Production Time
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Certain aspects of auto manufacturing must occur under specific time parameters. Paint, for instance, has to cure for a specific amount of time. Math is used to determine how long that time needs to be under a specific temperature given the chemical composition of the paint.
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