SOLUTION: A gutter is to be made from a piece of sheet metal that is (a) inches wide by bending up pieces of equal width at a right angle. Determine the width (x) of the piece the needs to b

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Question 949284: A gutter is to be made from a piece of sheet metal that is (a) inches wide by bending up pieces of equal width at a right angle. Determine the width (x) of the piece the needs to be bent up to maximize the cross section of the gutter.
Answer by macston(5194) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
For a given perimeter, a square has the largest area, so our gutter should have a square cross section. To form a gutter we only require 3 sides, so optimal length would have both sides and bottom=a/3
ANSWER the width of the pieces to bend up on each side is a/3