Answer to Question #140910 in Trigonometry for Meera

Question

Two Olympic ski runs are compared. One has a vertical drop of 450 m for a horizontal run of 1.2 km, and the other a drop of 625 m for a run of 1.8 km. Which hill has the greater slope?

Answer 1

Solution :

$$Slope = { \Delta vertical \space drop \over \Delta horizontal \space drop}$$

First ski run:

$$Slope ={ 450m \over 1200 m} = 0.375$$

Second ski run:

$$Slope = {625m \over 1800m} = 0.3472$$

The higher the value of the slope, the steeper the slope is:

$\therefore$ since 0.375 > 0.3472, the first hill has a greater slope