Like the glass company will be that accurate. Full-size template is all that's needed made out of 6mm MDF.
Umm, that's what I said , but wandering around with an 8' x 8' template is a lot harder than doing a quick calc
fair point....I prob didn't think that thru, but I'd always just do that calc myself, because even 0.5 degree error is around 10mm every 1000mm, so you still have to make sure the template is perfectly horizontal when you mark it.... https://www.firstinarchitecture.co.uk/how-to-calculate-stairs/
You make the template the size you want the glass to fit your staircase by making the template fit your staircase and then the glazier cuts the glass to your template and then it fits the staircase. No calculating, no errors, it's how you do glass.
Chip, you're 100% right if your glass man is close by - and I'll be taking a template to my local glass supplier for an arch I need, but DVDDVD is looking at online supplier for 15mm toughened, so being able to do the simple maths to work out the exact angle is helpful. It's easy to measure distance to the nearest mm, and the horizontal distance divided into the vertical distance gives you an exact and accurate angle you could order against with confidence.
He's buying online. The company want to know the angle. Templates are fine if you can take the template to the supplier, but in this case templates are a distraction. dvd is asking how to do the maths. He isn't wrong - with two sides of the RA triangle just use a simple calculation and you have the angle. answer post #2 was the right one! - trigonometry!
If all else fails - make a full size template and then measure it and produce a scale drawing with lengths and angles all shown.