Episode 9: Structural engineering and coordinates

This week the topic was coordinate geometry and structural engineering. We interviewed John Read, who’s a structural engineer, about his work and how he uses mathematics to design structures and buildings. Interesting links: What do structural engineers do?, at the Institute of Structural Engineers website Structural engineering, on Wikipedia Introduction to coordinate geometry, at Maths Open Reference Coordinates revision at GCSE Bitesize Puzzle: A square has one corner is at coordinates (1,12) and the corner opposite it is at coordinates (22,15). Calculate the coordinates of the other two corners. What is the area of the square? Solution: Show/Hide