Q:

A box of volume 36 m3 with square bottom and no top is constructed out of two different materials. The cost of the bottom is $40/m2 and the cost of the sides is $30/m2 . Find the dimensions of the box that minimize total cost. (Let s denote the length of the side of the square bottom of the box and h denote the height of the box.)

Accepted Solution

A:
Answer:s = 3.780 mh = 2.520 mStep-by-step explanation:The volume of the box is given by the formula ...   V = Bhwhere B is the area of the bottom, and h is the height. We are given values for V and B, so we can write ...   36 = s²·h   h = 36/s²Then the cost of materials for the box is ...   bottom cost = 40s²   one side cost = 30sh = 30s(36/s²) = 1080/s   4-side cost = 4 × one side cost = 4×1080/s = 4320/s__   Total cost = bottom cost + 4-side cost   c = 40s² +4320/sThis will be at a minimum when its derivative with respect to s is zero:   dc/ds = 0 = 80s -4320/s²   54 = s³   s = 3∛2 ≈ 3.77976 . . . . meters   h = 36/s² = 36s/s³ = (2/3)s ≈ 2.51984 . . . . metersThe dimensions of the box that minimize total cost are ...   s = 3.78 m   h = 2.52 m_____Please note that these dimensions make the cost of the box bottom be exactly the same as the cost of a pair of opposite sides. This is true of the optimal cost for any such problem. If the box has a top, then the total cost of top+bottom is the same as the total cost of any pair of opposite sides.Since the box bottom is $40/m² and a pair of opposite sides total $60/m², we know the area of the side will be 40/60 times the area of the bottom. That is, the box will be 2/3 of a cube, and the bottom dimension will be ...   ∛(3/2·36) = ∛54 . . . . metersas we found above.