How to Measure a Ramp
Measuring the dimensions of a ramp contains one minor problem: determining the length of the bottom of the ramp. You can measure both the slope of the ramp and the height of the ramp with measuring tape, but measuring the bottom length is difficult because of the intersection with the stairs. Solve this problem by using the Pythagorean Theorem. Since you can measure the length of the slope and height of the ramp, you can use the A(squared) + B(squared)= C(squared) formula to find out the missing length of the ramp. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Measure the length of the sloped part of the ramp, and the ramp's height with the measuring tape. Put the tape measure at the top of the sloped part of the ramp, and pull it all the way to the bottom end of the sloped length; write down the measurement for the slope. Put the measuring tape on the ground at the bottom of where the ramp meets the stairs, and pull it upwards to measure the height.
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2
Square the measurement for the length of the slope and the measurement for the height of the ramp. If the slope length is 10 feet and the height is 8 feet, the squared number of the slope is 100 (C2 or 10 x 10) and the squared length of the height is 64 (A2 or 8 x 8).
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3
Subtract the squared height from the square slope of the ramp. Using the example above, subtract 64 from 100 to get 36.
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Find the square root of the resulting number. The number you end up with is the length of the bottom of the ramp. In the example used above, the square root of 36 is 6, so the missing length of the ramp would be 6 feet.
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