Staircase Trigonometry
Created as an educational learning tool, here Scott Simpson Design + Build explores the trigonometry behind constructing a staircase.
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In order to figure out how to build the interior staircase of this house we needed to use math in many different ways. The first thing we wanted to do is going to make sure that the staircase was comfortable to descend so we wanted to make a stair tread that was the right width and a rise that was the right height. We also wanted to make sure that we had a lot of headroom. By using trigonometry we were able to figure out what the angle of the staircase needed to be for a staircase with tread that was 12 inches wide and a rise that was seven and a quarter inches high. Then, knowing the height from the floor of the basement to the first floor we then figured out what size the well would be with the landing figured in. By using trigonometry and the formulas of triangles we figured out how wide the stair would have to be so that the ironworkers could begin drilling.