Everyone is making one simple mistake in their calculation of the percent slope. You are using the length of the treadmill as one half of the slope calculation. Saying that if the length of the treadmill is 60 inches, then raising one end 60 inches gives you 100 percent slope, that is a mistake in the basic calculation.
The reason that you can typically use the length of the road you are driving on as one part of the calculation is that because at small angles, the length of the road, and the horizontal run is very similar. However, as the angle increases, this becomes less and less accurate. For example, if the treadmill is 60 inches long, and you raise one end 60 inches, thus the treadmill is going straight up, the run becomes zero, not 60 inches. Yes, for slopes greater than 45 degrees, the percent slope is greater than 100% -- Blue skies. Dan Rossi Carnegie Mellon University. E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tel: (412) 268-9081
