There must be an app for that.
Could Siri or Alexa do that?
Or maybe a Google search?
I asked Siri just now and it pointed me to other websites without an answer...maybe Alexa would be better...
...and of course there's apps available that convert degrees to %...or Google searches...
...the purpose of this thread was to help people
understand how to convert between degrees and %, not to just "ask Siri" for answers.
There are plenty of free clinometer apps that will give you readouts in either % or degrees. FWIW, phone apps aren't very accurate since how you're holding your phone isn't.
Agreed - but the app I used on my iPhone only showed degrees, and I was keen to know what the % was...and some basic trigonometry (using Tan degrees) gave me the the %.
I wasn't "holding" my iPhone - I placed the phone on the road at multiple points noting the angle on the inclinometer app...but I completely accept the angle read isn't that accurate.
Ah, google! Found this:
It's actually not too complicated. Road incline grades are given in percentage, which is the rise over run percentage.
This is the same thing as the tangent, expressed as a percentage. So 100% grade means tan x = 1, where x is the angle in degrees. Thus, convert from percentage to decimal by dividing by 100, then take the arctan (also called "inverse tangent") of that to get the degrees.
Be sure your calculator is set for "degrees" trigonometric functions rather than radians or gradians.
Example: 10% grade: arctan (0.10) = 5.7 degrees.
@christob - agreed - it's not too complicated converting degrees to %....that's what my original post shows/demonstrates
There must be an app for that.
Could Siri or Alexa do that?
Or maybe a Google search?
Sure there is - I was just showing how Siri/Alexa/Google would work this stuff out...and trying to convey that the math can be useful in real life...
...let's take a different example...
...I installed a besser block retaining wall at 100mm above ground level to the neighbours yard on a sloping yard.
On my side the wall was 1m at max height reducing to zero - and the bricklayer cut the top of the wall so the slope was constant rather than stepped.
I installed a timber paling fence on top of the retaining wall and wanted to know what angle to cut the bottom of each paling on my mitre saw in degrees to match the retaining wall.
With a water level it was easy to determine the height difference from the start of the retaining wall to the end (rise), and a tape measure determined the run.
As per above:
Tan (degrees) = opposite (rise) / adjacent (run)
Arc Tan (rise/run) = Tan^-1 (rise/run) = degrees to set the mitre saw at so that the bottom of each paling is cut at the same angle as the retaining wall...
...sure you could do it by "eye"...most do...but it only takes 2 measurements (rise and run) to determine the angle to set your mitre saw using Arc Tan.
Trigonometry is useful in real life...
Be sure your calculator is set for "degrees" trigonometric functions rather than radians or gradians.
Agreed - typically stay with degrees, unless you know how to use radians.
Radians are based on Pi...ie the ratio between the circumference of a circle and its diameter (3.1416....)
Pi radians = 180 degrees, 2Pi radians =360 degrees etc
Radians are used extensively in engineering and other sciences - I studied engineering at uni, and we always used radians, never degrees.
My understanding of gradians (perhaps apocryphal) is that it was an attempt to metricise a circle from 360 degrees to 400 gradians during the French revolution...
...also my understanding of where/how the 360 degrees in a circle concept came from (also perhaps apocryphal) is the (incorrectly) calculated days it took for the earth to circle the sun (actually closer to 365.25 days for 1 revolution)...
...who knows, maybe gradians would have been more successful if it was 1/1000 of a circle rather then 1/400...given 360 degrees wasn't correct either....
...regardless, I've never used gradians in either my scholastic or professional careers...I've no idea why calculators have the capability for gradians other than it's easy to have it...
...Going off topic...(hey it's my thread)...I spent a decade in the Australian Army Reserve, and we used Mils for navigation, which had 6400 graduations in a circle...a much higher resolution than 360 degrees...
...it was only after googling Mils tonight that I learned Mils comes from radians - Mils is actually short for mili-radians, and as above there's 2 x Pi radians in a circle so 2 x 3.1416 x 1000 Mils in a circle = 6283 Mils which is rounded up to 6400.
Every military compass I ever used had 6400 Mils on the dial - I had no idea before tonight there was a relationship between Mils and radians...but I like that there is.
There must be an app for that.
Could Siri or Alexa do that?
Or maybe a Google search?
Sure Siri/Alexa/Google can do lot's of things - but mostly it's good to know how it was done.
cheers,
Mike
