Math in Landscaping

What is landscaping?

Landscaping is the process of making a yard or other piece of land more attractive by altering the existing design, adding ornamental features, and planting trees and shrubs.

People use math in landscaping for a variety of reasons. They have to determine a yard's Size. In order to find the size they must be able to read a tape measure and multiply numbers. They also need to create scale drawings. In order to create a scale drawing of the property they have to sketch the layout of plants, trees, paths and patios. This requires division and fractions. After deciding what they are going to do, they must order supplies. For example, if they are creating a 15-by-10-foot patio using bricks, they must use multiplication and division to determine how many bricks to order. They also have to make a budget and stick to it. Every good landscapers must give estimates to customers before beginning a project. They must add up the total cost of all the supplies that will be needed along with travel and labor fees. They need to stick to it to make a profit. They will need to keep a list of all expenses and add them up to make sure they are some what close to the estimated cost.

• Calculate site grading and elevations: SL=E (Slope*Length=Elevation Change)
  • Ex) There's a surface 10′ long and it needs to slope at 2% to drain properly, multiply 10*.02=0.2. The surface would need to drop 0.2′
• Calculate cubic yards: ((Length X Width X Depth)/27)=CY
• Conversions
  • Ex) Acres x 40.47 = areas.
  • EX) Efficiency of pump = (GPM x feet head) / (horsepower x 3960)