Question

A construction crew is building a straight ramp the rest on to beams. One beams is 3.5 feet tall and the other is 10.5 feet tall. The beams are 40 feet apart. What is the slope of the ramp?

Answer 1

Explanation:

The slope is defined as the rise over the run. Our rise is the difference between the heights in the beams which is 7 feet (because the shorter beam is 7 feet shorter than the taller beam). Our run is the distance between the 2 beams which is 40 feet. Rise over run is also the same thing as the tangent ratio, which is the side opposite over the side adjacent to the angle of inclination. Therefore,

tan(x) = 7/40 so the slope of the ramp is 7/40