Math Forum Discussions

Paul Kunkel

Posts: 9
Registered: 12/6/04

Re: calculating acreage
Posted: Aug 10, 2004 8:48 AM

Plain Text

On Fri, 30 Jul 2004 11:13:40 -0700, Mary Krimmel wrote:
>At 10:26 AM 7/30/04 -0400, you wrote:
>>Can anyone assist me with calculating the acreage of the following
>>irregular shaped lot?
>>
>>32.00 x 124.27 x 173.74 x 100.79 x 32.69 x 83.88 x 288.74 x 328.53
>>
>>Replies to darlene_dorff@comcast.net
>>
>>Thanks, Darlene
>
>Problems like yours come up again and again on this list. It's
surprising
>that the message hasn't reached everyone who is aware of the list
that for
>any area with more than three sides, the area cannot be found from
only the
>lengths of the sides.

I'm sure that by now, it has surpassed even the angle trisection.

>No one can help much without more measurements, either diagonals to
break
>up the lot into virtual triangles or else angles, which should add to
1040
>degrees. Although you do not say, I assume that the measurements are
in
>feet and they list the sides in order. It is hard to believe that the
edges
>of such an irregular lot would be measured so precisely as to four
>significant digits. Perhaps you can make do with an estimate if it is
not
>practical to measure the diagonals or the angles. Can you get a
surveyor's
>record of the lot from some official source like county records?

This used to be my line. I just want to say that there is nothing
unusual about representing the length of a boundary course to the
nearest hundredth of a foot, no matter how large or irregular the
parcel is. In fact, it is the standard everywhere I have worked in
the United States.

If those dimensions came from a deed description or a plat, then they
are probably accompanied by bearings. Include those with the
description and it is likely that someone here can help. I say
"likely" out of optimism, not confidence. Deed descriptions are often
written by people who are not surveyors and have no understanding of
the geometry they are putting on record.

Kunkel