document.write( "Question 1163322: A two-pen corral is to be built. The outline of the corral forms two
\n" ); document.write( "identical adjoining rectangles. If there is 120 m of fencing available and
\n" ); document.write( "the fence width cannot be less than 6 m, what dimensions of the corral will
\n" ); document.write( "maximize
\n" ); document.write( "the enclosed area? [round all answers to one decimal places)
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "In the rectangular corral Horizontal line is the length and vertical line is the width.\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "Thank you.
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Algebra.Com's Answer #787392 by greenestamps(13200)\"\" \"About 
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\n" ); document.write( "Let the width be x.

\n" ); document.write( "Since the corral is divided in half, there are three fences of length x; that's a total fence length of 3x.

\n" ); document.write( "The remaining length of fence, 120-3x, is the two other sides of the corral, so the length of the corral is (120-3x)/2, or 60-1.5x.

\n" ); document.write( "The area of the corral is then

\n" ); document.write( "\"x%2860-1.5x%29+=+-1.5x%5E2%2B60x\"

\n" ); document.write( "This is a quadratic expression of the form ax^2+bx+c; its value is maximized when x is equal to -b/2a.

\n" ); document.write( "In this quadratic expression, \"-b%2F%282a%29+=+-60%2F-3+=+20\"

\n" ); document.write( "So the width that maximizes the volume is x=20 (which satisfies the condition that it must be at least 6). And then the length is (120-3x)/2 = 30.

\n" ); document.write( "ANSWER: length 30 and width 20 maximizes the area.

\n" ); document.write( "Note that the total lengths of fencing in the two directions are equal. This is always the case, no matter how many adjacent corrals the whole corral is divided into.

\n" ); document.write( "For example, if you have 600 feet of fencing and you are dividing the long corral into 5 adjacent sections (using 6 sections of fence width-wise), then the maximum area is with 300 feet of fencing in each direction -- which means a length of 300/2 = 150 feet and a width of 300/6 = 50 feet.

\n" ); document.write( "So to an experienced problem solver, the solution to your problem would go like this:

\n" ); document.write( "Total fence length: 120 feet
\n" ); document.write( "Length of fencing in each direction: 120/2 = 60 feet
\n" ); document.write( "Length of corral for maximum area: 60/2 = 30 feet
\n" ); document.write( "Width of corral for maximum area: 60/3 = 20 feet

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