Grade and slope are basically two interchangeable words. If you want to find the grade of a hill, road, or railway, you can use the slope formula. The formula for slope is rise over run. Finding the grade or slope of something is related to what we have been doing since the beginning of the year. In a right triangle, you can find the slope of the angle by dividing the height by the length of the triangle. To get the % grade, put the denominator as 100.
So what does it mean when you see signs with a percent grade on it? What if the sign says the slope of the hill, road, or railway, has a 9% grade? This means that for every 100 ft you travel horizontally, you will be 9 ft higher than when you started. The slope of this incline/decline would be 9/100. A 0% grade is horizontal and can easily be driven on. A 100% grade is vertical and is impossible to travel on.
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