Angle, percent grade and roof pitch (x in 12) from rise and run or from any one of them, with the sloped length and rafter factor.
This slope rises 0.5 for every 1 of run: 26.57° from horizontal, a 50 % grade, or a 6/12 roof pitch. Its sloped length is 13.4164 cm.
Multiply a horizontal run by this to get the sloped length.
Every way of stating a slope comes from one ratio, m = rise ÷ run. The angle from horizontal is arctan m, the percent grade is 100m, the roof pitch is 12m (units of rise per 12 of run), and the rafter factor √(1 + m²) turns a horizontal run into the sloped length. Enter a rise and run, or any one of the other forms, and the rest follow.
The default rise of 6 over a run of 12 is a 6/12 roof: 26.57°, a 50% grade and a rafter factor of 1.1180, so 12 cm of run needs 13.4164 cm of rafter. Ramps and roads use the same numbers: the steepest ramp the 2010 ADA Standards allow, 1:12, is an 8.33% grade, or 4.76°.
Percent grade is not an angle: a 100% grade is 45°, and a vertical face has no finite grade or pitch, so angles must lie between −90° and 90°. A negative rise describes a downhill slope.
Checked against: Python 3.8 math: degrees(atan(0.5)), sqrt(1.25), sqrt(6**2 + 12**2)
Checked against: tan 45° = 1; Python 3.8 math.sqrt(2)
Checked against: Python 3.8 math: degrees(atan(0.08)); 12 × 0.08; 1/0.08
Checked against: Python 3.8 math: degrees(atan(4/12)), sqrt(1 + 1/9)
Take the arctangent of the grade divided by 100: θ = arctan(grade/100). An 8% road grade is arctan 0.08 = 4.57°, and a 100% grade is 45°, not 90°. The reverse is grade = 100 × tan θ, so a 30° slope is a 57.7% grade.
26.57°. A pitch of x/12 means x units of rise for every 12 of run, so the angle is arctan(x/12): 4/12 is 18.43°, 6/12 is 26.57°, 8/12 is 33.69° and 12/12 is 45°. The rafter factor for 6/12 is √1.25 = 1.118, so 12 ft of horizontal run needs 13.42 ft of rafter before any overhang.
1:12 under the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design (§405.2): one unit of rise for every 12 of run, an 8.33% grade or 4.76°. Each ramp run may rise at most 30 in (§405.6), so a 30 in rise needs a run of at least 30 ft. Other countries set their own limits in their building codes.
Divide the vertical rise by the horizontal run, both in the same unit: m = rise/run. A roof that rises 6 in over 12 in of run has m = 0.5. Measure the run horizontally, not along the surface: the sloped length here is 13.42 in, and dividing by it gives 0.447, the sine of the angle rather than the slope.
Accuracy depends on your inputs and the method's assumptions. Decimal arithmetic uses 50 significant digits, but estimates, numerical methods and source data can be less precise; the displayed rounding does not remove those limits. It is checked against 8 worked examples whose answers come from independent sources; for example, “Rise 6, run 12 (a 6/12 roof)” is checked against Python 3.8 math: degrees(atan(0.5)), sqrt(1.25), sqrt(6**2 + 12**2).
OpenStax College Algebra 2e, §4.1 — slope as rise over run; US Access Board, ADA Standards §405.2 — ramp slope 1:12 (8.33 %).
8 worked examples with independently sourced answers ship with this calculator. They run in the test suite; you can run them here too.
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