Grade (slope)
The grade (also called slope, incline, gradient, pitch or rise) of a physical feature, topographic landform or constructed element refers to the amount of inclination of that surface to the horizontal. It is a special case of the gradient in calculus where zero indicates gravitational level. A larger number indicates higher or steeper degree of "tilt". Often slope is calculated as a ratio of "rise" to "run", or as a fraction ("rise over run") in which run is the horizontal distance and rise is the vertical distance.
Grade or slope is applied to measuring existing physical features (such as canyon and hillsides, stream and river banks and beds), or in designing and engineering new elements for construction (such as roads, landscape and garden grading, roof pitches, railroads, aqueducts, and pedestrian-handicapped-bicycle circulation routes).
Read more about Grade (slope): Expression Nomenclature, Roads, Environmental Design, Railways, Effects of Grade
Famous quotes containing the word grade:
“Life begins at six—at least in the minds of six-year-olds. . . . In kindergarten you are the baby. In first grade you put down the baby. . . . Every first grader knows in some osmotic way that this is real life. . . . First grade is the first step on the way to a place in the grown-up world.”
—Stella Chess (20th century)