Please don't call yourself a retard.
You might be familiar with the more common 3-degree glideslope or gradient of 5%. The 5% means 5 / 100, 5 feet lost vertically (y-axis) for every 100 feet travelled horizontally (x-axis). When you intend to find the angle subtended by this 5 (y-axis) and 100 (x-axis), you just take the inverse tangent of them both - opposite over adjacent i.e. inverse tangent of 5 / 100. The result is an angle of 2.83 degrees ( which is close to the 3-degree we mentioned).
The TWELVE percent (12%) slope means you lose 12 feet vertically for every 100 feet travelled horizontally and this is simply a much steeper slope i.e. a whopping 6.84 degrees glideslope! ( Inverse tangent of 12 over 100 gives us 6.84)
Who uses the 12% slope, by the way?
Last edited by Babi Melayu; 4th August 2002 at 18:14.