Chapter 8.4, Problem 35E

To determine

To find:

The length of ground (in feet) that the ramp covers.

Answer to Problem 35E

The ramp covers22 feet of ground.

Explanation of Solution

Given:

You are building a wheelchair ramp that leads to a doorway 22 inches above the ground. The slope of the ramp must be $\frac{1}{12}$ .

Calculation:

Let x represent length of ground in inches that ramp covers.

We will use slope formula to solve our given problem.

  $\text{Slope}=\frac{\text{Rise}}{\text{Run}}$

The rise will be 22 inches and run will be x .Upon substituting our given values in slope formula, we will get:

  $\frac{22}{x}=\frac{1}{12}$

Let us solve for x .

  $\begin{array}{l}\frac{22}{x}=\frac{1}{12}\\ x=22\cdot 12(\text{Cross multiplication)}\\ x=264\end{array}$

Since we for length of ramp in inches, so we will convert in feet by dividing 264 by 12 as 1 feet equals 12 inches.

  $\frac{264}{12}=22$

Therefore, the ramp covers 22 feet of ground.