Question
Find the dimensions of a rectangle with a perimeter of 180 feet that has the maximum area.
The side lengths are
feet.
(Use a comma to separate answers as needed.)
The side lengths are
(Use a comma to separate answers as needed.)
Ask by Reed George. in the United States
Mar 24,2025
Upstudy AI Solution
Tutor-Verified Answer
Answer
The side lengths are 45, 45 feet.
Solution
Let
be the length and
be the width of the rectangle.
-
The perimeter is given by:Dividing both sides by 2:
-
Express
in terms of : -
The area
of the rectangle is: -
To maximize the area, we recognize that the quadratic
opens downward, so its maximum occurs at the vertex. The -coordinate of the vertex is given by: -
Substitute
back to find :
The rectangle with maximum area under the given perimeter is a square with side lengths
feet.
The side lengths are
.
Answered by UpStudy AI and reviewed by a Professional Tutor
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Extra Insights
To maximize the area of a rectangle with a given perimeter, we can use the relationship between the dimensions. For a rectangle, the perimeter
is given by the formula
, where
is the length and
is the width. Given that
feet, we have:
Now, the area
of the rectangle is given by
. Substituting
into the area formula gives:
This is a quadratic function that opens downward (the coefficient of
is negative), so its maximum value occurs at the vertex. The vertex
can be found using the formula
, where
. Here,
and
:
Thus,
feet and substituting back to find
:
The side lengths are
feet.