Trade Math and Measurement

The arithmetic, geometry and trigonometry every trade uses daily, followed through a first-year apprentice on a mid-rise building: tape reading and fractions, decimals and percentages, unit conversions, area and volume, squaring layouts, trigonometry, pipe offsets, slopes and stairs, ratios and scale drawings, trade formulas and material takeoffs.

TRD-102 12 lessons · 5 h 52 min

Offered by HSM University · Trades Core

This is the Canadian version of this course. See the American version.

What you'll learn

  • Read a tape measure accurately to the nearest sixteenth of an inch and the nearest millimetre, and add, subtract, multiply and divide fractional measurements.
  • Convert between fractions, decimals, percentages and decimal feet, and round correctly for cutting and for ordering.
  • Convert between metric and imperial units with the unit-factor method, and explain nominal and actual sizes.
  • Calculate perimeters and areas of floors, walls, roofs and irregular shapes, and apply coverage rates.
  • Calculate volumes and weights of concrete, fill, excavation and liquids, including footings, columns and pipes.
  • Use the Pythagorean theorem and whole-number triples to square layouts, check diagonals and find brace lengths.
  • Use sine, cosine and tangent to find unknown sides and angles, and convert between angles, ratios and percent grades.
  • Calculate the set, run, travel and cut length of simple, parallel and rolling pipe offsets.
  • Calculate drain falls and elevations, ramp lengths, stair risers and treads, and roof pitch factors.
  • Solve ratio and proportion problems for mixes, drawing scales, production rates and crew sizes.
  • Rearrange and apply trade formulas, including Ohm's law, electrical power, water pressure with height and thermal expansion.
  • Prepare a material takeoff with counts, lengths and areas, waste factors, purchase units and a reasonableness check.

Course content

12 lessons · 5 h 52 min total · final exam

  1. 1 Reading a tape measure and working with fractions 30 min · quiz
  2. 2 Decimals, percentages and converting between them 31 min · quiz
  3. 3 Metric and imperial measurement in Canadian construction 30 min · quiz
  4. 4 Perimeter and area of floors, walls and roofs 29 min · quiz
  5. 5 Volume: concrete, fill and excavation 33 min · quiz
  6. 6 Right triangles: Pythagoras and squaring a layout 31 min · quiz
  7. 7 Trigonometry on the job: angles, rise and run 29 min · quiz
  8. 8 Pipe offsets and rolling offsets 30 min · quiz
  9. 9 Slope and grade: drains, ramps, stairs and roofs 26 min · quiz
  10. 10 Ratios, proportions and scale drawings 29 min · quiz
  11. 11 Formulas on the job: rearranging, Ohm's law and water pressure 30 min · quiz
  12. 12 Material takeoffs and estimating quantities 24 min · quiz
  13. E Final exam 20 questions

Description

The arithmetic, geometry and trigonometry every trade uses daily, followed through a first-year apprentice on a mid-rise building: tape reading and fractions, decimals and percentages, unit conversions, area and volume, squaring layouts, trigonometry, pipe offsets, slopes and stairs, ratios and scale drawings, trade formulas and material takeoffs.