Jessup McDermott 1

Rose Jessup McDermott

Geometry Honors

6 January 2019

There are so many different jobs that people do but here's a question: How many of the

use Geometry. Many students in class don't believe that the things you use in Geometry class can

be used in their jobs in the future. When in fact almost all jobs use some form of geometry in

their work. For example architects using angles to create sturdy buildings, people who practice

medicine use ratios and proportions to prescribe the right amount of medication or fashion

designers who use geometry to help to make sure all fabric is cut the right way and all pieces

sewn together will create an article or clothing.

There are a lot of jobs where the use of Geometry is very obvious like architecture,

artists, or engineering. People like civil engineers use a lot of geometry. “They must calculate the

size of each structure, determine the right quantity of materials to buy and ensure that each

structure can withstand inclement weather and other hazards”(Morgan). Most people know that

engineers use geometry. There are many different types of engineering so there are many more

ways for engineers to use geometry. In this quote you can see how the engineers would use

angles to make sure there structure can support itself. They would also use the shapes to help

figure out the amount of materials. Aerospace engineers “use geometric principles to design

military aircraft and spacecraft that will operate well in hazardous conditions”(Morgan)To make

sure that aircrafts are stable and can function aerospace engineers need to use geometric shapes

to make sure the vehicles they use can be the right size and have the right shape to be
 Jessup McDermott 2

aerodynamic.”focus on the aesthetic principles of geometry rather than having to focus

specifically on the mathematical aspects”("Professions that Use Geometry"). Artists can use

geometric shapes and angles when putting together a painting. For things like isometric art you

have to use angles to make the right shapes.

(Ryan)

This picture shows how angles are used in isometric art. Geometry can be used more in

art because it uses basic and complex shapes to make overall pictures to make the art complete.

To make art you first need to start with a shape first before adding the details. Artists also need to

make sure the things in the art are proportionate to each other. “Architects use shapes and angles

when they draw plans for residential, commercial and public spaces. They also use geometric

principles to create symmetrical features in homes, public spaces and commercial

properties”(Morgan). Architects need to make sure that the building they are building can fit into

where they are building it. You can’t build a 2000 square foot house in a space where you could

only build a 1000 square foot one. Architects also have to take into account that people find
 Jessup McDermott 3

symmetric buildings more appealing so they have to either use symmetry or they would draw out

one side of the building then reflect it so it was the same on the other side.

Geometry is also used with mechanical and digital side of things. “Animated movies use

geometry to create life-like 3D images. In addition, the graphic design related to video game

creation includes functions of geometry”(Hickman). To make animations more believable

animators need to make sure that thing they are animating are the right proportions to the other

things in the animation. Like a dog shouldn’t be the same size of a house unless it was a really

giant dog. Or in video game making the animators could use rotations or dilations when the

characters or objects are moving. For example for rotations someone could be swinging a sword

or for dilations it could be like when a character drinks a potion and gets bigger. Geometry is

also used in Robotics in many ways. It is used with “determining the angles and arcs that robotic

equipment is capable of requires geometrical computation as well as algebra.”(Hickman) For

people in robotics for something like a t-shirt cannon they would have to make sure the cannon

part is at the right angle for optimal trajectory. Robots construction can be tricky so the people

making them must be able to plan and make the design which uses precise shapes and angles.

These are other more mechanical types of jobs that use geometry giver it a wider range of

categories it is used in.

Geometry is also used in places like hairdressers or nail salons. In a hair dresser they use

geometry because “giving someone a hairstyle that is well suited to them involves understanding

how different geometric hairstyles will look on different face shapes.”(Passy). When you are

giving someone a haircut there are multiple thing that you need to take into account. They use

they shapes of people's head to know what haircut would look best. Kim Moore, a hair stylist,
 Jessup McDermott 4

said that “In haircutting we understand and except that 90 degrees is constantly changing with

Head Shape”(Moore). Hair stylists have to know their angles to make sure they are giving

someone a good and even haircut. Hair stylists also use Geometry “when combining bottles of

hair color to determine what ratio will produce the desired color”(Dwilson). When they are

coloring someone's hair they need to be able to make sure to use ratios to get the specific color

for the client. If the hair person doesn’t get the right ration, the won’t get the right color for the

client and then the client won’t be happy. Geometry is also used in nail art. There are many

designs that use angles to make sure that the nail gets the desired effect.

(Maria).

This is one example of Geometry is used in Nail salons. The nail artists need to make sure that

the nails art is symmetrical for the nail or the client may not get what they are looking for.

Geometry is used frequently in jobs in the beauty industry in multiple different ways.

In the real world Geometry can be used in many places that we don’t even realize. No

one would think about how a job like in a hair dresser would use Geometry. It is used through

angles and ratios. It can help build buildings and make planes. It can do a lot of things. A lot of

people, even myself have trouble seeing how you would use some Geometry lessons in the real
 Jessup McDermott 5

world but this proves that it is possible to use Geometry in more ways than we could even

imagine.

Work Cited

Brenner, Laurie. "How Is Geometry Used in Real Life?" Sciencing.com. Sciencing, 06 Dec.
2018. Web. 14 Dec. 2018.

Dwilson, Stephanie Dube. "How Does Cosmetology Use Math?" Chron.com. N.p., 09
Nov. 2016. Web. 14 Dec. 2018.

González, Gloriana, Herbst, Patricio. "Competing Arguments for the Geometry Course:
Why Were American High Century?" University of Michigan. Web. 4 August 2018.

Hickman, Stormy. "What Types Of Jobs Use Geometry". Career Trend. 5 July 2017.
Web. 4 August 2018.

Maria. "60 GEOMETRIC NAIL ART IDEAS." Nenuno Creative. N.p., 19 June 2017.
Web. 14 Dec. 2018.

Moore, Kim”Geometry in Haircutting” hairbrainedarchive. 20 March 2013. Web. 25

October 2018.

Morgan, Leigh Ann. "What Careers Require Geometry". Chron. 1 July 2018. Web. 4
August 2018.

Passy. "Jobs With Geometry" Passy's World of Mathematics. 7 August 2011. Web. 4
August. 2018.

"Professions that Use Geometry" Universal Class. Web. 4 August. 2018

Ryan , V. “ISOMETRIC DRAWING AND DESIGNERS.” CUBISM AND

ARCHITECTURE, 2010. Web. 25 October 2018
Jessup McDermott 6