[Math] Finding the length and width of a house that maximize its area

calculusoptimization

A house is built in the shape of a rectangle, with $3$ rectangular interior sections separated by parallel walls, using fencing. The owner has $900$ feet of fencing, and he wants to enclose the largest possible area. What should the length, width, and area be?

Please help, I'm lost.

Best Answer

Let the two inside parallel walls each have length $x$. Let the sides of the rectangle perpendicular to these each have length $y$.

Then the total area enclosed is $xy$. The amount of fencing used is $4x+2y$. This is to be $900$, since it is clear that it is best to use up all the fencing.

So we want to maximize $xy$, under the constraint $4x+2y=900$.

Thus $y=450-2x$, and we want to maximize $x(450-2x)$.

Because of the physical situation, we need $x\ge 0$ and $y\ge 0$. This means $x\le 225$.

So mathematically, we want to minimize $f(x)=450x-2x^2$, where $0\le x\le 225$.

This can be done by standard tools, such as calculus or completing the square.

Related Question