Question

Serious Help W/ Project! Please

Outdoor steps gennerally require larger landings and lower pitches. A particular outdoor staircase climbs a total vertical elevation of 15 geet from the road level to the front entrance of a buiding. If the angle of elevation is to be 30 degrees and the landing of each step is to be 26 inches, calculate the following (must show all work).

1. What is the vertical rise per step?

2. Find the number of steps needed to climb from road level to the front entrance.

DIAGRAM: http://i45.tinypic.com/n3mfs1.png

Answer 1

From the diagram, you can see that you can make a triangle in which you know two sides and an angle (sides = pitch, landing angle = angle of elevation). Using the picture, you can see that tan(angle of elevation) = rise / landing.

You can use the two knowns to find the unknown rise. From there, you can find out how many rises you need in order to go up a total of 15 feet. Since each rise designates a step, this will be equivalent to the number of steps needed to climb from road level to the front entrance.

Answer 2

okay but i don't know the formula to get the answer from @daniel987600

Answer 3

I don't understand your question.

Answer 4

i don't know how to get the answer... don't know where to start from, i'm really stuck... I'm sure that there is a formula to find the answers but i don't know that they are...

Answer 5

@daniel987600

Answer 6

So, if you read my first response, there is almost step by step instructions. The key insight is that you combine the information given by the angle of elevation and the landing to get the rise, and from there you can combine the information given by the rise and the total height to get the number of stairs.

I wouldn't ever try to solve problems by finding formulas. I would think about problem solving as using given information as a starting point to get the final information needed.