Problem of Optimisation: A company is designing a logo. The logo is a circle of radius 4 inches with an inscribed rectangle. The rectangle must be as large as possible.

First, draw a diagram showing the rectangle, the circle and the unknowns . Then find the equations representing this problem (equation of a circle of center 0, x2 +y2=42 (1) and of the area of the rectangle A=2x*2y (2)). Substitute one variable of eq(1) in eq (2) ==> A= 4xROOT(16-x2) (3).The largest area can be found by differentiating eq(3) (to find the local maximum of the equation). dA/dx = (64-8x2)/ROOT(16-x2) (using the formula for the differentiation of the product of two functions).The stationary points are the points for which dA/dx = 0. We compute and find x=ROOT(8) or x= - ROOT(8).To verify it is a maximum, we can take the second derivative of this point (and it must be less than 0) or plug the value just lower and higher than ROOT(8) in the first derivative to see if the function is increasing or decreasing at those points. Finally, determine the area by plugging ROOT(8) in (2), which gives A=32 sq inches

Related Maths A Level answers

All answers ▸

AQA PC4 2015 Q5 // A) Find the gradient at P. B) Find the equation of the normal to the curve at P C)The normal P intersects at the curve again at the point Q(cos2q, sin q) Hence find the x-coordinate of Q.


Integrate 5sinxcosx + 5cosx


If y = (4x^2)ln(x) then find the second derivative of the function with respect to x when x = e^2 (taken from a C3 past paper)


Find, in radians, the general solution of the equation cos(3x) = 0.5giving your answer in terms of pi