Pre-Calculus Problem Re-Phrasing

Question

Suppose that a pwd ramp that has a 3° slope must be built against a flight of stairs of 5 meters high that is beside a sidewalk of 7 meters long. The standard size of wheelchair width is 0.66cm. What should be the length and the height of the ramp.

Answer 1

Bryan,

I have a feeling the 7 feet and the 66 inches don't matter in this problem. I too wish you could send a diagram!

But I thing it's just a SOHCAHTOA problem with 3 degrees and the 5 feet behind the opposite leg. So you need the length, which is the adjacent. So you would use TAN(3deg) = 5/x

It's weird tho because the question asks for the height of the ramp as well. Why wouldn't that also be 5 feet? I'm imagining the ramp is built to match the steps at the top. So again, diagrams...

Hmm.