- About MAA
- Membership
- MAA Publications
- Periodicals
- Blogs
- MAA Book Series
- MAA Press (an imprint of the AMS)
- MAA Notes
- MAA Reviews
- Mathematical Communication
- Information for Libraries
- Author Resources
- Advertise with MAA
- Meetings
- Competitions
- Programs
- Communities
- MAA Sections
- SIGMAA
- MAA Connect
- Students
- MAA Awards
- Awards Booklets
- Writing Awards
- Teaching Awards
- Service Awards
- Research Awards
- Lecture Awards
- Putnam Competition Individual and Team Winners
- D. E. Shaw Group AMC 8 Awards & Certificates
- Maryam Mirzakhani AMC 10 A Awards & Certificates
- Two Sigma AMC 10 B Awards & Certificates
- Jane Street AMC 12 A Awards & Certificates
- Akamai AMC 12 B Awards & Certificates
- High School Teachers
- News
You are here
Water Tank Minimization
A copper water tank in the form of a rectangular parallelepiped is to made. If its length is to be \(a\) times its breadth \(b\), how high should it be that for a given capacity it should cost as little as possible?
Problems in Differential Calculus, Byerly, 1895
Click here to reveal the answer
The answer is: the height should be \(\dfrac{ab}{a+1}\) if the tank is open, and \(\dfrac{2ab}{a+1}\) if the tank is closed
"Water Tank Minimization," Convergence (April 2008)
