SOLUTION: Technology: Driving down a moutain, Tom finds he has descended 1800 ft in elevation by the time he is 3.25 mi horizontally away from the top of the mountain. Find the slope of his

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Question 78729: Technology: Driving down a moutain, Tom finds he has descended 1800 ft in elevation by the time he is 3.25 mi horizontally away from the top of the mountain. Find the slope of his descent to the nearest hundredths.
Found 2 solutions by tutor_paul, ankor@dixie-net.com:
Answer by tutor_paul(427) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Slope=%28Rise%29%2F%28Run%29=%28deltay%2Fdeltax%29
Be Sure to use the same units for the calculation.
1 mile=5280 feet
Slope=%28%281800%2F5280%29%2F3.25%29
Slope=0.1048
I'll leave the rounding to you :-)
Good Luck,
tutor_paul@yahoo.com

Answer by ankor@dixie-net.com(12689) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Tom finds he has descended 1800 ft in elevation by the time he is 3.25 mi horizontally away from the top of the mountain. Find the slope of his descent to the nearest hundredths.
:
One of the definitions of slope is "rise over run"
:
Rise and run should be in the same units of measurement:
Change 3.25 mi to feet; 5280 * 3.25 = 17160 feet
However, since he descended, the slope will be negative
:
m = Rise%2FRun = -1800%2F17160 = -.105
: