solve your building maths with a ten dollar calculator

When the pocket calculators first came out with the extra maths functions they gave the power to us ordinary guys to do fast and accurate calculations on the job, on site in the thick of it. like in the middle of a concrete pour when we needed to know how much extra concrete we had to order..... quick!

Many times I have done a quick calc and said to the guys on the job something like "prop the ridge up at 37" and 5/8" above the wall plate" and away we'd go fixing the roof. Or maybe I'd say something like "We need a minimum of five degrees fall here" (dab dab dab on the calculator), "so that's 187mm, let's say make it 210mm for good measure".

This ability to handle seemingly complex mathematics definitely gave me a higher status than the other mere mortals on the job. It was all bulls**t, but I didn't let on of course. If they had formed the impression that I had a razor sharp mind why should I disappoint them.

What I had done was learn just a few basic rules. Then..... and here it comes.....I had pasted a small cheat sheet inside my calculator's cover, because my memory was nearly as bad then as it is now! So to save you guys the trouble I have got on the last page of this book a small printable cheat sheet to jog your memories.

• Solve your building maths with a ten dollar calculator is a small 24 page ebook packed with graphic examples of how a simple pocket calculator can be used to quickly get you the answers to many construction problems.
• I wrote this book in response to many email conversations and a lot of questions from my readers.
• It is written in the clean and user friendly PDF format. The graphics that I do in my CAD program appear nice and sharp even at high magnification.
• The methods I describe in the book are well documented elsewhere in maths textbooks and many websites, but as you can see from the sample pages below I use a very graphic system and always real world practical examples that have saved me countless hours of work over the years
• To use the tips and techniques in the book you don't even have to own a pocket calculator. The chances are that your computer has one included in your accessories folder. (Click "View" and select scientific).
• I hope that by reading this book you will gain an appreciation of the extraordinary power of these cheap little tools.

Don't rely on some website's fantastic roof angle calculator or buy a lock yourself into some proprietary estimating system. Why not?

• Sooner or later it won't be there when you need it.
• You will be trusting someone else's calculations. Look at the disclaimers these things have, they won't pay you for any stuff ups they cause.
• A lot of these so called aids, will take a bit of time to master. Why not invest that same amount of time in learning how to do it yourself?
• Once you learn the basics from this small ebook then it will be time to move on to doing complicated stuff that NONE of the gizmos can handle.

• Table of contents Note- In the book all the links are direct to each page and each page has return links for quick navigation.
• Why a $10 calculator?
• What sort of a calculator to choose?
• Learn how to do a very basic, self check.
• Looking at the controls
• To set the calculator to display only full numbers.
• Chain dimensions. A favorite undocumented trick
• Pythagoras and the 3:4:5 triangle
• Practical Examples of Using Pythagoras.
• How to get the length of a rafter, given the half span and the height
• How to get the height, given the span and the rafter length
• Setting Out A Building Foundation, Checking For Square
• Setting Out A Fence Line With An Angled Corner.
• Trigonometry, The Sine (sin) Ratio, Introduction
• Practical examples of using the sine ratio.
• The Sine (sin) Ratio Is Expanded
• The Sine (sin) Ratio, Worked Examples
• To find out the angle of an existing roof.
• The Other Two Main Trig Ratios, Cosine and Tangent
• Practical Examples Of Using The Cosine Ratio.
• Measuring The Surface Area Of A Roof From The Plan
• Practical examples of using the tangent ratio.
• To find out the angle of a roof in degrees,given the pitch ratio or rise over go.
• Appendix (1). CASIO fx-82AU Student calculator.
• Cheat sheet.

Sample ebook page. Sorry about the quality, it's from a screen shot and I have size limits here. The book itself has excellent vector graphics.

Sample ebook page. Sorry about the quality, it's from a screen shot and I have size limits here. The book itself has excellent vector graphics.