Facts About Digital Protractors & Electronic Protractors

By Carey Bourdier


A protractor is a basic geometric tool to help take angle measurements. They exist in various forms from the simple plastic protractor for school pupils, to sophisticated digital protractors. An electronic or digital protractor is a kind of a protractor that uses a digital read out instead of reading from a scale. The angle is shown on the digital screen. Some of these look like the traditional bevel protractor but the more modern ones resemble small boxes that can just be placed on a surface to read an angle. Electronic protractors are also known as digital inclinometers or digital angle gauges.

The electronic protractor is handy because it calculates angle measurements easily and exactly, and it even works in two different ways. One mode, the horizontal mode, can be used to simple calculate the measurement of one single horizontal angle. This quickly will provide you with the measurement in its digital readout.

There also should be a mode called "relative measurement" and this can be used to help you measure more than one surface. You can measure one angle and then clear that reading and measure a second angle and the electronic protractor will remember both measurements to provide you the difference between these two angles. This can be important information for many professionals.

If you were wondering what types of workers or professional would use an electronic protractor, the answer is there are many applications. For instance, land surveyors often will use a digital protractor or inclinometer to measure the slope of land. Civil engineers building skyscrapers, bridges and roads also will use the digital protractor for similar purposes. Foresters might use this device to learn more about the heights of trees in our nation's forests.

Doctors can use a digital protractor to measure a person's spinal angles or perhaps the pelvis or even to check the range of motion of different joints. An astronomer, either professional or an amateur, might use an electronic protractor to ensure that a telescope is set up properly. If you are a soldier learning how to accomplish long-range shooting, a digital protractor can help make sure that your gun is lined up correctly so that you reach your target exactly.

These applications are just some instances where an electronic protractor can be used. The uses are limitless providing there are angle measurements to be taken. This is a useful tool for anyone who works with angles, which is a wide range of field of study and professionalism. These include structural engineers, land surveyors, geophysicists, soldiers, carpenters and so on. An electronic protractor can be useful for recreational, home and commercial purposes.




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