# How can an incline be 106%?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-an-incline-be-106/960571>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 6, 2022, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-an-incline-be-106/960571 "2022-03-06T16:33:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![Timz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Timz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timz)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2025, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-an-incline-be-106/960571/61 "2025-07-26T22:35:08Z")

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> [@CookingWithGas](#):
>
> What is the reason for adopting a convention like this? [defining “percent grade” as vertical-over-horizontal distance instead of vertical-over-slope distance]

Because maps show horizontal distance. If you’re drawing on a contour map to decide where to build a road, and you’re willing to accept a 20% grade, then the road will cross 100-ft contour lines every 500 ft scaled off the map, not every 510 ft.

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2025, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-an-incline-be-106/960571/62 "2025-07-26T23:01:21Z")

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> [@CookingWithGas](#):
>
> In ice skating they talk about triples and quads. Seems like _everybody_ can cope with that. Why talk about degrees?

That’s even worse, though. A “single axel” is 1 and a half rotations, a “double axel” is 2 and a half, and a “triple axel” is 3 and a half.

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**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2025, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-an-incline-be-106/960571/63 "2025-07-26T23:17:43Z")

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I suspect most of the other measurements and formulae here are made up by the posters. Some even invented their own letters. I am, however, confident that the plural of funicula is funiculi, (“Sing it loud!”) while the plural of furuncle is carbuncle, but the pain increases geometrically, not arithmetically.

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**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2025, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-an-incline-be-106/960571/64 "2025-07-27T13:08:39Z")

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nm, zombie

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**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\
**Post date:** [August 6, 2025, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-an-incline-be-106/960571/65 "2025-08-06T16:53:29Z")

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Thanks for the earworm. For an Italian, talk of funicular invariably starts that song playing… _Jamme, jamme,’ncoppa jamme jà_

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