I need to draw an oval shape about 5 inche's wide by about 7inch's long?

Question

does any one have the formula .I think it takes as well as I can remember a piece of string and 4 nails and pencil

Answer 1

That nail and pencil thing is actually pretty handy but i'm not sure how accurate it will make the oval, but pretty much the first two nails you places horizontally 5 inches apart and then you find where their center is which should be 2.5 inches and from that center you go 3.5 inches up and 3.5 inches down to get 7 inches vertically, two spots for the nails. the string should be very tight around the nails and voila trace! but there's seriously gotta be a simpler way. i'd say do it by hand, with rulers and protractors and such but that doesn't always turn out well.

Answer 2

Simplest way I know to do that is make a rectangle 7 inches by 5 inches on paper cut it out then fold in half first one way then the other cut all 4 corners at one time open it up and you have the oval template to go by, easy cheap and can be made several times over till you get the shape of oval you want.

Answer 3

I learned two nails, and one slack piece of string tied between them. I don't know the formula, or how far apart the nails should be. You might just have to play around with it.

Answer 4

Here's a detailed explanation of the formula for an ellipse. It does involve two points with a piece of string. getting the measurement right is the trick.

http://www.tpub.com/math2/15.htm

Answer 5

simple way; get a piece of string, lay it on a piece of paper and move it around to the shape and size you want, then lightly spray over the string with paint, when dry remove string and you should have a pattern for your shape.

Answer 6

here is a web site that will calculate the distance of the pins and the length of the string for you. Worked for me, pretty accurate too.

Answer 7

Try a protractor.

Answer 8

Cant you do that on Word?

Answer 9

use the inside circumference of a toilet seat ----------lol