Glossary
In the engineering industry accuracy is critical. Manufactured parts must fit and do exactly what they are designed to do. For example, a piston must fit exactly into the cylinder bore for an engine to work properly. Therefore it is important that all drawing measurements are accurate.
You may be required to calculate the perimeter, circumference, area and volume of the components that you manufacture. To do this you will need to take linear and angular measurements in your day to day work.
Linear measurement is a distance between two points. Examples of linear measurements are the distance in a straight line from your home to your workplace, the diameter of a pipe, or the length of a flat bar. In engineering terms, length is usually measured in millimetres but it can also be in centimetres, metres, kilometres, feet, inches or miles.
Angular measurement is the size of the angle between
two straight lines that meet at one point. The angle looks like a wedge
out of a pie - the bigger the piece of pie, the bigger the angle between
the two straight sides. Angular measurements are normally given in degrees,
minutes and seconds. For some higher level calculations you will use radians and gradians to
measure angles.
