Question

Construction workers are paving a road. The road must drop 4 cm for every 650 cm measured horizontally.

a) What is the slope of the road?

b) Suppose a section of the road drops 24.5 cm. How long is this section of the road measured horizontally?​

Answer 1

a)

slope = (-4 cm) / (650 cm)

slope ≈ -0.00615

b) the section of the road measured horizontally is approximately 3983.74 cm long.

Explanation:

change in horizontal distance = (change in vertical distance) / slope

change in horizontal distance = (-24.5 cm) / (-0.00615)

change in horizontal distance ≈ 3983.74 cm