Quote Originally Posted by ImSavy View Post
I've never seen someone use gradians in practise.
Quote Originally Posted by OngBonga View Post
I would imagine it's useful in engineering and construction.
I have seen it used in civil engineering when discussing the slope of a roadway. Even then, only among other civil engineers. I very much doubt they would describe - say - a truss bridge using grads.

When I was hiking all over the US, we used grads. It probably had something to do with using a contour map to plot the hiking path, but I'm guessing. If I'm right, that's a pretty strong link to why they use it in roadways.

That's about it, though, for using grads.

The mathematical definition of slope (rise / run) is used in plumbing. I.e. you need a drop of 1/8 inch per foot on a "horizontal" drainage line (more if the drain carries solids).