Question
If 1600 square centimeters of material is available to make a box with a square base and an open top, find the largest possible volume of the box.
Volume
Question Help: cubic centimeters.
Volume
Question Help: cubic centimeters.
Ask by Savage Newton. in the United States
Mar 23,2025
Upstudy AI Solution
Tutor-Verified Answer
Answer
The largest possible volume of the box is
cubic centimeters.
Solution
Let the side length of the square base be
and the height of the box be
. Since the box has an open top, the surface area is used for the base and the four sides. The constraint on the surface area is
The volume of the box is given by
Step 1. Express
in terms of
:
From the surface area constraint, solve for
:
Step 2. Write the volume in terms of
only:
Substitute
into the volume formula:
Step 3. Optimize the volume by differentiating with respect to
:
Differentiate
with respect to
:
Set the derivative equal to zero to find the critical point:
Solve for
:
Taking the positive square root (since
must be positive):
Step 4. Find
corresponding to
:
Substitute
into the expression for
:
We already have
, so:
Step 5. Calculate the maximum volume:
Substitute
and
back into the volume formula:
Since
:
Thus, the largest possible volume of the box is
Answered by UpStudy AI and reviewed by a Professional Tutor
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Bonus Knowledge
To maximize the volume of a box with a square base and an open top, you’ll want to set up the problem using calculus. Let the side of the base be
cm and the height be
cm. The surface area constraint is given by the equation:
To express the volume
of the box, use the formula:
Now, isolate
from the area equation:
Substituting this into the volume equation, we get:
To maximize the volume, find the derivative of
and set it to zero:
Solving
gives
, giving us
cm. Plug this value back to find
, which would give you the dimensions for the largest possible volume.
Now, calculate the maximum volume:
- Calculate
using . - Find
by substituting and into the volume formula.
When calculated accurately, the maximum volume can be found close to 8,686.41 cubic centimeters!