Thread: Minimizing Cost (Optimization)

What would be the approach for this problem:
A power house, P, is on one bank of a straight river 200m wide, and a factory, F, is on the other bank 400m downstream from P. The cable has to be taken across the river under water at a cost of $12.00/m. On land the cost is $6.00/m. What path should be chosen so the cost is minimized?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Originally Posted by superhume

What would be the approach for this problem:
A power house, P, is on one bank of a straight river 200m wide, and a factory, F, is on the other bank 400m downstream from P. The cable has to be taken across the river under water at a cost of $12.00/m. On land the cost is $6.00/m. What path should be chosen so the cost is minimized?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Please do a quick search of your question on a search engine before posting. Apparently, this type of question is relatively popular.

For example, here is the same question with different numbers.

And here is another good link: this is the very same question (exactly).


That way, helpers here can answer unresolved questions nstead of spending time and effort on an already resolved question.

Thanks

Hope those links were of help to you

Mathemagister