SOLUTION: The figure shows an isosceles triangle with equal sides of length "a" surmounted by a semicircle. What should the measure of angle θ be in order to maximize the total area?

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Question 1186062: The figure shows an isosceles triangle with equal sides of
length "a" surmounted by a semicircle. What should the measure of angle θ be in order to maximize the total area?
https://imgur.com/a/tyyqfL4

Answer by math_helper(2461)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!


Refer to the figure above, where we've sliced the original picture down the middle. Here . If we maximize this figure in terms of , we just need to double that to find .
=
=
Observe:


Substituting for r and h:
=
=
=
= +
...factoring out
= (*)
Now take the derivative of with respect to :
=

=
... substitute ...
=

This last function is zero at approx. = 2.575rad, = 5.716rad, ...
By graphing, one can see 2.575rad results in a maximum area, while 5.716 results in a minimal area.
2.575rad is approx 147.54degrees.
Ans: = maximizes the total area.
Just in case...
If you were interested in the value of the total maximal area, note that you would need a modified form of (*) because that equation computes 1/2 of the total area:
=
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