Volume Calculation for Dummies - The Freelance Files MMCXIX

more than just "squares and rectangles"

The AN staffers all have their own mental checklist that help them decide who gets a nomination for DotD and who just earns a passing scornful glance. If an article checks off one box, unless that it's the utter bullshit box, the post generally gets ignored. Then there are the posts that get most of it right but just don't measure up. Today's nomination is one such post, a Hunker.com article by returning DotD Jean Asta. The English Lit grad thought she had figured out "How to Calculate Gallons in a Container"... but she hadn't.

Let us expand on that statement: Asta thought of one method, but she did a fairly crappy job of explaining it (including a ridiculous statement that probably resulted from getting a BA instead of taking any STEM classes). According to Jean, you must,

1. "Measure the interior length, width, and depth of a rectangular or square container."
2. "Calculate the container's volume in cubic inches."
3. "Divide the total number of cubic inches by 231."

With the exception of the fact that rectangles and squares are two-dimensional objects and don't have depth, that's more or less OK. The conversion factor is correct... for cubic inches. Our questions?  What about non-rectilinear shapes? Jean said, "For other container shapes, look up the correct measurements [sic] for calculating the container's volume"; didn't she mean "formulas"? What if the volume is quite large, say, an olympic swimming pool? Shouldn't you measure it in feet, yards, or meters? What about an acre-foot (325,851 gallons)? What if you know the size of the container already; say in fluid ounces, quarts, liters...?

No, Jean's answer was decidedly incomplete, not to mention wrong in that "measurements" comment. Failure to think of any but the simplest "solution" to a question has always been one of the hallmarks of the freelancers to whom we award the Dumbass of the Day. Jean's here for the sixth time, which should tell you a lot about her attention to detail...

MM - GEOMETRY