Students Find Value in Construction Calculators

Calculated Industries (CI) Vice President Mark Paulsen gets a lot of questions from educators and trainers in the trade professions on how the company’s calculators can help them teach applied math to their students. The following post offers some insight on the types of calculators available and how schools use them in their curriculum. 

The Four Top Trade Calculators

For construction craft training, most use the construction calculator because it includes craft-specific functionality, built-in calculations for stairs, roofs, rafters and framing and has full trigonometric functions.

The pipe-fitting calculator has full trigonometric functions and is used by pipe fitters, sprinkler fitters and welders and calculates angles, bends, slopes, cutbacks, offsets and flow rates.

The electrical calculator solves electrical calculations that conform to the National Electrical Code. It also calculates Kirchhoff’s Law, Ohm’s Law, wire and conduit sizes, motor full-load amps, parallel resistance and integrated voltage drops.

The applied math calculator is used to teach or learn applied math, including right triangle math, trigonometry, circles, arcs, ratios, proportions, hexagons, polygons and fractions.

The Use of Calculators on Tests: The Straight Answer

The primary concern among instructors, as well as testing and training facilities, is that calculators have no Alpha Text or Alpha/Text Memory functions. This means they do not have text (QWERTY) keys nor are they able to store text (e.g., “the answer to #7 is C”).

“We’re dedicated to supporting educators in the trades, and specifically design our calculators in the product development phase to be in compliance for all relevant testing facilities,” said Erin Taylor, CI sales manager. “Our calculators are non-programmable and approved for use in all types of education and apprenticeship programs.”

Supporting NAHB Student Chapters

There is no doubt that construction crafts are about as applied-math intensive as it gets. CI supports training programs across the country, including NAHB Student Chapters, SkillsUSA, NCCER, MCAA and many others.

Since 2007, all winners of the Residential Construction Management Competition held at the annual International Builders’ Show receive a Construction Master Pro calculator or a Scale Master Pro XE Advanced Digital Plan Measurer. Over the years, CI has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars of prizes to these exceptional students and wishes them the best at at the 2016 IBS event.

Tools for Trainers

If you are a craft professional in the educational field, CI offers special educational discounts on all their calculators, as well as free instructor resources. These free tools include an emulator (which lets you demonstrate on a screen or smart board how the calculator is used to solve problems associated with your particular curriculum), calculator specific certificate programs, and a library of over 200 “How-To” YouTube videos. The Construction Master Pro model also comes with a workbook and study guide which can be purchased as a bundle with the calculator or separately.

FREE Tool Belt Case for NAHB Members! Email or call us at 800-854-8075 and mention this offer.

To learn more about Calculated Industries education tools and products visit or visit us at IBS 2016 at booth C3254.