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Section 4 Problem Solving and Design in Technology
Classifi cation
One person or a group of people can con-
duct classification. Classification involves
dividing the problem into major segments.
Each segment is then reduced into smaller
parts. For example, buildings can be clas-
sified as business and commercial, homes,
and industrial. Homes can be further classi-
fied as houses, apartments, and condomini-
ums, for example. A house can be classified
by its major features: foundations, floors,
walls, ceilings, roof, doors, windows, and
so on. Foundations can then be classified
as poured concrete, concrete block, wood
posts, timber, and so on. This process might
result in a classification chart. A classifica-
tion chart is often developed as a tree chart,
with each level having a number of branches
below it. See Figure 10-8. This chart ends up
looking very similar to a family tree people
use to trace their ancestors.
What-If Scenarios
What-if scenarios start with a wild
proposal. The proposal’s good and bad
points are then investigated. The good
points can be used to develop solutions.
For example, peeling paint is a problem
for housepainters. They must remove the
old paint from a house before repainting.
A wild solution suggests mixing an explo-
sive material with the paint before it is
applied. Whenever the building is ready to
be repainted, the old paint can be blown off
the building. Obviously, exploding house
paint is ridiculous. The proposal, however,
STEM Connections: Mathematics
Solid Geometry
Designers should be familiar with some basic geometric concepts
in order to create effective pictorial sketches. They use the concepts of
solid geometry, for example, when drawing such three-dimensional images as
pyramids, cones, cylinders, and cubes. A pyramid, to use the first example, is a
solid figure with a polygon as a base. A polygon, as you might recall from earlier
geometry lessons, is a closed plane figure bounded by three or more straight
lines. (The word polygon comes from the prefix poly-, meaning “many,” and the
suffix -gon, meaning “angle.” Thus, a polygon is a many-angled figure.) The faces
(surfaces) of the pyramid are triangles with a common vertex, or point where they
intersect.
In a regular pyramid, the base
is a regular polygon. The faces are
congruent triangles. Again, as you
might remember from earlier geom-
etry, congruent means “equal in
size and shape.”
The other three-dimensional
images share some characteris-
tics, but they differ in others. For
example, in what way or ways is a
cone similar to a pyramid? In what
way or ways is it different?
The Giza Pyramids in Egypt.
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