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Anyone willing to help me with an optimization problem?

Here is the problem:

A box has a square base of side x and height y. Find the dimensions for which the surface area is 20 and the volume is as large as possible.

When I solved the problem, I came up with one of the sides equaling the square root of 10/3, but once I tried it in the first derivative test, it fails. Can someone help me out, my book is bad and I don't know where else but here to look.

Public Comments

  1. If the box has a top your answer is correct. It would be in the shape of a cube (you will have to derive this). And you would have:



    Surface area = 6x² = 20

    x² = 20/6 = 10/3

    x = √(10/3)



    However, if the box does NOT have a top you will get a different answer. And from reading what you wrote I suspect this is the case. You would have:



    x = length base

    x = width base

    y = height

    S = surface area

    V = volume



    V = x²y

    S = x² + 4xy = 20



    Try working with this and see what you get.
  2. Vol = x²y

    Area = 2x² + 4xy = 20



    Solve for y in the area equation. Substitute it in the first equation, then do dV/dx = 0.



    If you do it correctly, you will get x = 1.8257



    Plug it into the area equation to get y, which should also equal 1.8257, because the minimum area for a maximum volume is a cube, as you would expect.
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