How Is Geometry Used In Real Life?

The next time you play a video game, thank geometry for the realistic look to the landscape and the characters that inhabit the game's virtual world. Besides helping computer designers build virtual realities, geometry's applications in the real world include architecture, computer-aided manufacturing, medicine, biology, physical sciences and much more.

Before a contractor builds a structure, someone must design the building's shape and create blueprints. A computer outfitted with computer-aided design software contains the math to render the visual images on the screen. Some CAD programs can also create a simulation that allows you to see what the finished space looks like in a simulated walk-through.

Though most gamers appreciate speed over real life effects, geometry provides both for computer and video game programmers. The way that characters move through their virtual worlds requires geometric computations to create paths around the obstacles populating the virtual world. Video game engines typically employ raycasting, which is a technique that simulates a 3-D world using a 2-D map. Using this form of geometry helps speed up processing because calculations are only done for the vertical lines on the screen. The same geometry helps a robot to see.

Geometry plays a significant role in global positioning systems which require three coordinates to calculate location. A satellite equipped with a GPS system uses a form of geometry not unlike that used to calculate a right triangle. It involves the position of the satellite in the sky, the location of the GPS position on Earth identified by longitude and latitude, and the distance from that location to the place on Earth that equates to the satellite's position in the sky.

Geometry plays a role in calculating the location of galaxies, solar systems, planets, stars and other moving bodies in space. Geometry calculations between coordinates also help to chart a trajectory for a space vehicle's journey and its entry point into a planet's atmosphere. NASA scientists use geometry to compute the journey of a vehicle sent to Mars. They calculate the elliptical orbits and the correct angle to enter a planet's atmosphere and land on the surface.