Maxima and Minima

Prem T Lalchandani,
Dr. Subhash Technical Campus,
Junagadh.
The Least and the Greatest
Many problems that arise in mathematics call
for finding the largest and smallest values that
a differentiable function can assume on a
particular domain.
There is a strategy for solving these applied
problems.
Some History
Many problems in the seventeenth century
that motivated the development of calculus
were maxima and minima problems.
Some of these problems involved finding the
maximum range of a cannon (Galileo), the
maximum height of a projectile fired from
various angles (Galileo) and finding the
greatest and least distance of a planet from the
sun (Fermat and Descartes).
The Max-Min Theorem for Continuous
Functions
If f is a continuous function at every point of
a closed interval [a.b], then f takes on a
minimum value, m, and a maximum value, M,
on [a,b].
In other words, a function that is continuous
on a closed interval takes on a maximum and
a minimum on that interval.
The Max-Min Theorem, Graphically
Strategy for Max-Min Problems
The main problem is setting up the equation:
Draw a picture. Label the parts that are important for the
problem. Keep track of what the variables represent.
Use a known formula for the quantity to be maximized or
minimized.
Write an equation. Try to express the quantity that is to
be maximized or minimized as a function of a single
variable, say y=f (x). This may require some algebra and
the use of information from the problem.
Strategy for Max-Min Problems
(continued)
Find an interval of values for this variable. You need to be
mindful of the domain based on restrictions in the problem.
Test the critical points and the endpoints. The extreme
value of f will be found among the values f takes at the
endpoints of the domain and at the points where the
derivative is zero or fails to exist.
List the values of f at these points. If f has an absolute
maximum or minimum on its domain, it will appear on the
list. You may have to examine the sign pattern of the
derivative or the sign of the second derivative to decide
whether a given value represents a max, min or neither.
Using the Strategy
Suppose that you buy 36 feet of fencing.
What are the dimensions of the rectangular
plot of maximum area?
Draw a picture:
Length = x
Width = y
Using the Strategy (continued)
Write an equation.
WE KNOW: A= lw = xy.
This is the equation to be differentiated, since we are
maximizing area. We would like to reduce the
number of variables to one.
We also know that we have 36 feet of fencing. This
tells us the perimeter of the rectangle:
2x + 2y = 36
NOTE: x cannot be <0 and 2x cannot be >36.
0 < x <18

Using the Strategy (continued)
Lets solve the last equation for y. That gives you
y=18-x (good old algebra). Substituting this into
A = xy, we get:
A = x ( 18-x)
= 18 x x
2

Take the derivative of this equation (easy!)

18 2
dA
x
dx

Using the Strategy (continued)
Set the derivative to zero and solve to get
x = 9.
Take the second derivative of A= 18 x x
2
to get




Since the second derivative is a negative number
and a constant, this must be the only maximum.
2
2
2
d A
dx

Using the Strategy
(no, were not done yet)
At this point, you might think you are done.
WRONG!!! The problem asked for the
dimensions of the rectangle.
x=9 gives the length of the rectangle. Since
we have y = 18 - x, y=9. The rectangle must
be a 9 x 9 square to get the plot of maximum
area.
REMEMBER--answer the question that is
asked!
Some Comments
Note that you only had one point to test. There was
only one value when you set the derivative equal to
zero and solved the equation and the second
derivative test told you that you had found an
absolute min. We could have checked that value and
the endpoints of the domain:



Future problems may not be this easy. (Sorry!!!)
x 0 9 18
A 0 81 0
Thank You!