Re: Slopes and inclinations

[Ron Anthony]

Anselmo,   In the general  you are correct.  In English they basically mean the same.    My dictionary says that slope is the "degree of deviation from the horizontal.:  Whereas "inclination is the degree of deviation from a definite direction, especially from the horizontal or vertical."  What I remember from Geometry tends to support the definition of slope.    Also, slope in English seems to have come from "to slip".   ++ron     ----- Original Message ----- From: Anselmo Pérez Serrada To: Sundial, Mailinglist Sent: Saturday, March 09, 2002 2:21 AM Subject: Slopes and inclinations Hi everyone,      Now that you're talking about drainage inclinations, I'd like to pose a lexical question:                       Which is the difference between 'inclination' and 'slope'?   As far as I can see, I gather that in English both are interchangeable terms that denote so the angle between some plane with the vertical line as also the angle made with the (horizontal) ground. You can only notice the difference through the context.   In Spanish (and I suppose in other Latin languages) there is a difference, not always observed, between 'inclinacion' (=inclination?) and 'pendiente' (=slope?): the first one is the angle between the plane and the vertical line and the second one is its complementary. That's why we talk about 'La torre inclinada de Pisa' (the leaning tower of Pisa) but not 'La torre pendiente de Pisa'.   I am telling that because sometimes English documents are confusing and maybe it could be useful to establish that difference in the standard technical gnomonic lingo:   * Slope: Angle between a plane's maximum slope line and its horizontal projection. * Inclination: Angle between a plane's maximum slope line and a vertical line intersecting it.   (Obviously, both are terms are linked by Slope = 90 deg - Inclination)   I haven't found any reference to this in my English dictionaries, so maybe my proposal is a gramatical aberration: that's why I am making this question!   Cheers,   Anselmo