~ GRADIENT ~

THE CONCEPT OF GRADIENT

"Not that I'm lazy, but before I enter upon an expedition,

I'd like to know how much huffin' and puffin' is
involved!"
"What you need to know, Lou, is the
gradient! Gradient tells you how steep
your route is! Gradient can be expressed
numerically in many ways. One
common way to describe the average
steepness or gradient between two
points is to state the difference in
elevation (ED) divided by the horizontal
distance (HD):
GRADIENT = ED/HD

Take a look at this example:

• The vertical distance (here, the

difference in elevation between
points 'A' and 'B') = 10,000 feet
• The horizontal distance from 'A'
to 'B' = 5 miles
• Gradient = vertical distance
(elevation difference (ED))
divided by horizontal distance
(HD)
• The GRADIENT is 2000 feet per
mile (10,000 feet divided by 5
miles)

Elevation difference may also be

expressed in inches, meters or some
other convenient unit; similarly,
horizontal distance may be expressed in
feet, kilometers, etc. Thus, the gradient
may be stated as inches/foot, feet/mile,
meters/kilometer, etc.
The diagram on the right shows some
slopes and their approximate
gradients in feet/mile.

"Let's look at an example close to home: the entrance to Boylan Hall at

Brooklyn College. There are two ways to get up to the level of the doors
from the quadrangle:

• Using the steps.

• Using the ramp.

Which do you think is steeper?"

"Well, of course the steps are steeper than the ramp! You
go up the same amount but in a shorter distance! But I'd
like to know how much steeper!!"

"That's where
gradient can help
you! Let's take a
closer look at what
it's all about! Here's
a photo of the
steps:"
 "And here's a
sketch of the
steps!

If you look
carefully, you'll
see that to get
from the ground
to the level of the
doors to the
building
(Platform 2), you
have to go up
nine 'risers', and
across seven
treads and
Platform 1!
Right?"

"Now suppose, Lou, that I tell you the risers are 6

inches high, the treads are 12 inches across, and
Platform 1 is 6 feet across! Now you tell me the
following: "

INSTRUCTIONS: Fill in each box and click the button to the right to see if your answer is
correct. ONLY USE NUMBERS, NOT LETTERS!

1. In going from where the ground meets the first riser to where Platform 2 meets the steps

the total vertical distance is:- inches. Correct?:-

2. In going from where the ground meets the first riser to where Platform 2 meets the steps

the total horizontal distance is:- feet. Correct?:-

Reset
 "Once you've got
those answers
correct, you've
got a measure of
the overall
steepness! That
is, you've
averaged out the
steepness of the
two sets of steps
and Platform 1!

In the sketch you

can see that the
steepness of the
steps (pink) and
horizontality of
Platform 1
(green) averaged
together give the
overall steepness
(red)."

"And if I want to give a number to the overall steepness,

all I have to do is take the answer to the first question
(total vertical distance) and compare it to the answer to
the second question (total horizontal distance)! I can
say that to go from the ground to Platform 2 (the level
of the door), I have to go up (a)______ inches in
(b)_______ feet across! More elegantly, I can divide the
vertical distance by the horizontal distance to say that
on average I go up (c)_____ inches for every foot
across! That is, the gradient is (d)_______inches per
foot!"

To fill in the blanks, fill out the form below.

INSTRUCTIONS: Fill in each box and click the button to the right to see if your answer is
correct. ONLY USE NUMBERS, NOT LETTERS!

The answer to (a) is:- inches. Correct?:-

2. The answer to (b) is:- feet. Correct?:-

3. The answer to (c) (to the nearest inch) is:- inches for every foot across. Correct?:-

4. The answer to (d) (to the nearest inch) is:- inches per foot. Correct?:-

Reset

"Now let's take a

look at the ramp!"

"As it runs from

ground level to
platform 2, the
ramp has three
parts:

• the lower
ramp
• the turn
around
platform
• the upper
ramp

"
 Now, Lou, figure out the overall
• the horizontal distance for the
steepness of the ramp! Remember, the
lower ramp
vertical distance will be the same as for
• the three parts of the turn
the steps - once again you're going from
around
ground level to platform 2! It's the
horizontal distance you have to
• the horizontal distance for the
calculate! Make sure you include all
upper ramp
parts of the route (shown in purple):

INSTRUCTIONS: Fill in each box and click the button to the right to see if your answer is
correct. ONLY USE NUMBERS, NOT LETTERS!

1. The total vertical distance is:- inches. Correct?:-

2. The total horizontal distance is:- feet. Correct?:-

3. On average, the number of inches the ramp goes up (to the nearest inch) is inches
for every foot across. Correct?:-

4. That is, the average gradient to the nearest inch is inches per foot. Correct?:-

Reset

MEASURING GRADIENT ON CONTOUR MAPS

"Gradient can
be calculated
from contour
maps! Suppose
you plan to
'bushwack' in a
straight line
from 'A' to 'B'
and want to
know how steep
it will be. 'A'
falls on the
2500' contour;
'B' falls on the
1250' contour.
So the elevation
difference
(vertical
distance) is
1250'. The
horizontal
distance from
'A' to 'B' can be
gotten from the
scale! The
distance on the
map from 'A' to
'B' is 1 inch! On
the ground, that
= five miles! So,
the gradient is
1250'/5 miles!
Divide through,
and you get 250
feet per mile!"
"And let's
suppose you
wanted to work
your way up
the river, from
'D' to 'C'! You
can get the
gradient of the
river in the
same way!
Point 'C' lies
half way
between the
1750' and 2000'
contours, so we
can estimate its
elevation as
midway
between the
two contours:
1875'. The
elevation of 'D'
is 0', because it
lies at sea level.
So, the
elevation
difference
between C and
D is 1875'
minus 0' =
1875'!
The horizontal
distance along
the river is
about twice the
length of the
scale bar. Since
the scale bar is
5 miles, twice
its length is ten
miles. So, the
gradient along
the river is
1875'/10 miles
= about 188'
per mile!"
 "But the spacing of the contours and the gradient vary as you go along the
river!"

"You're right, Lou! The gradient you get

this way is only the AVERAGE
GRADIENT! Also, there's no way of
knowing what the gradient is between
contours! The contour interval is 250', so
there could be a hundred foot waterfall
and then a fairly level stretch between
two of the contours and they wouldn't
show on the map! But it gives you a
general idea of what you'll encounter!"

"As for getting the distance along a curvy line such as a river, first you could lay out
a piece of string along the line. Then, straighten out the string and hold it up to a
ruler! Or to the scale bar!"

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