Not sure if anyone else has the "when am I ever going to use this" discussion with their kids. Seems to be a somewhat recurring theme at my house, particularly as math gets harder in high school. If that's you also, well maybe this story will help next time it comes up.
So here's the story: I sell cross bars as a solution for OEM racks. Today a customer wants reduce wind noise and put a fairing on their extrusion cross bar setup. Ok easy enough, here's a pic that they sent...
I make a bracket that runs over the top of that 1x2 extrusion, then bends down at a 50° angle. Here's what that looks like in magical CAD space...
And as I'm literally typing the words "measure to make sure a 4" tall fairing at a 50° angle doesn't touch the roof" I realize that I posses the power to figure out what that number is vertically. So I then create this picture, then run upstairs and plop down on my daughter's bed to make her help me figure it out...
So we first agree that the missing angle must be 40°, as the sum of the angles of a triangle has to be 180. It's refreshing to know they still teach SOH CAH TOA in school, albeit with fewer Native American references than when I went through it, probably for the better. So after a little more deliberation we figure the SIN of the 40 degree angle is probably the easiest way to find X... given that S=O/H, and we are trying to find O and already know H. So SIN40=X/4. Sin of 40= .745, then times 4 to get rid of the fraction = 2.98. So I then write my customer back and say measure down from the top of your cross bar and make sure you have at least 3".
ha! today is when you'll actually use this stuff.
So here's the story: I sell cross bars as a solution for OEM racks. Today a customer wants reduce wind noise and put a fairing on their extrusion cross bar setup. Ok easy enough, here's a pic that they sent...
I make a bracket that runs over the top of that 1x2 extrusion, then bends down at a 50° angle. Here's what that looks like in magical CAD space...
And as I'm literally typing the words "measure to make sure a 4" tall fairing at a 50° angle doesn't touch the roof" I realize that I posses the power to figure out what that number is vertically. So I then create this picture, then run upstairs and plop down on my daughter's bed to make her help me figure it out...
So we first agree that the missing angle must be 40°, as the sum of the angles of a triangle has to be 180. It's refreshing to know they still teach SOH CAH TOA in school, albeit with fewer Native American references than when I went through it, probably for the better. So after a little more deliberation we figure the SIN of the 40 degree angle is probably the easiest way to find X... given that S=O/H, and we are trying to find O and already know H. So SIN40=X/4. Sin of 40= .745, then times 4 to get rid of the fraction = 2.98. So I then write my customer back and say measure down from the top of your cross bar and make sure you have at least 3".
ha! today is when you'll actually use this stuff.
