Real-Life Math
The tourist season has arrived, and this brings loads of work for
you. You pick up your logbook and start working on your list of things to
do. After evaluating your priorities, you decide the first thing you will
be working on today is an aircraft radar screen.
According to the logbook,
the pilot detected trouble with the radar screen in the passenger cabin during
his routine check. He realized that there was inconsistency in the information
provided on the passenger screen.
Apparently, the conversions between
miles and kilometers were incorrect. The flight had to be cancelled. You find
the cause of the problem and fix it within a few hours. It was a minor problem
with the computer that really had no major influence on the safety of the
flight. But it was better to be safe than sorry.
"Conversion of measurements
are required in our daily work," says avionics technician Stephen Chandler.
"Standards and requirements in logbooks and instructions are often in a different
measuring unit than the ones you would use at home. Because parts are manufactured
elsewhere, math becomes important."
You have just completed your repairs,
and it is now time to test the system to see if it is working correctly now.
You decide to do 3 tests. You are then going to match the measurements to
see if they are correct. You are going to enter 1,012 miles, 1,170 kilometers
and 987 miles.
You are going to check to see if the conversion on the
display screens is correct. The conversions on the display screens currently
shown, in the same order, are 1,628 kilometers, 727 miles and 1,588 kilometers.
Are your parts repaired correctly? If they are, the conversions should be
correct. Check them now.
Remember: 1 kilometer (km)
= 0.62137 miles or 1 mile = 1.609 km