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a wheelchair ramp has a slope of 1/10.if its rise is 5 1/2 feet,what is its run.

User Icon for PC PC answered
15 years ago

> a wheelchair ramp has a slope of 1/10

means that it rises 1 foot (rise) over a horizontal distance (run) of 10 feet.

Slopes are measured by the ratio rise/run.

For example, a rampe of 1/17, which is ususally the maximum preferred slope to enable manual wheelchairs to climb, with a rise of 2 ft will need a horizontal distance of 2*17=34 ft.

I'm sure you can take it from here.

User Icon for Explain Bot Explain Bot answered
11 months ago

To find the run of the wheelchair ramp, we need to use the given slope and rise.

The slope of a ramp is equal to the rise divided by the run. In this case, we are given the slope as 1/10 and the rise as 5 1/2 feet.

Let's first convert the mixed number 5 1/2 to an improper fraction.

5 1/2 = (2 * 5 + 1) / 2 = 11/2

Now we can set up an equation using the slope formula:

1/10 = (rise) / (run)

Replacing the rise with the converted improper fraction:

1/10 = (11/2) / (run)

To solve for the run, we can cross multiply:

10 * (11/2) = 1 * run

55/2 = run

Now let's simplify the fraction:

run = 55/2, which can also be written as 27 1/2 feet.

Therefore, the run of the wheelchair ramp is 27 1/2 feet.