Thread: finding the grade of a mountain trail

a straight trail with a uniform inclination leads from a hotel, elevation 5000 feet, to a lake in a valley, elevation 4100 feet. The lenght of the trail is 4100 feet. what is the inclination ( grade) of the trail

i'm not a native speaker of english , tha's why i don't really understand...i hope u guys can help me

Hello alessandromangione

Originally Posted by alessandromangione

a straight trail with a uniform inclination leads from a hotel, elevation 5000 feet, to a lake in a valley, elevation 4100 feet. The lenght of the trail is 4100 feet. what is the inclination ( grade) of the trail

i'm not a native speaker of english , tha's why i don't really understand...i hope u guys can help me

The usual way of giving the grade of a hill is as a percentage. It is calculated from the formula:

Percentage grade %

If the incline is very small, this is approximately the same as:

Percentage grade %

In the question you have been given, the vertical distance , and the distance along the slope . This is quite a steep incline, so it's not a good idea to use the second formula. So we use Pythagoras' Theorem to work out the horizontal distance:

Horizontal distance

So, using the first formula:

Percentage grade % %

Grandad

My mind is going! I first read the title as "Find the grade of a mountain troll". I believe I had a class with one of those once. As I remember, his grade wasn't very good.

Yes, I've had my share of them as well!

Grandad

thanks grandad