Thread: Extrema

1) The surface area of a cell in a honey comb is:



where h and s are positive constants and theta is the angle at which the upper faces meet the altitude of the cell. Find the angle theta ( ) that minimizes the surface area S.

Originally Posted by seuzy13

1) The surface area of a cell in a honey comb is:



where h and s are positive constants and theta is the angle at which the upper faces meet the altitude of the cell. Find the angle theta ( ) that minimizes the surface area S.

This has either a calculus like minimum in the interval or the minimum is at an end point of the interval.

So differentiate and set the derivative to zero and solve for a zero in the given interval, if there is no such root examine the value at each end of the interval.

CB