Thread: minimizing the cost of making a box with an open top

a box is made with a square bottom and open top to hold a volume of 8ft³. the material for the sides cost $4 per square foot and the material for the bottom costs $1 per square foot. What dimensions will minimize the cost of the box?

what equations have you come up with from the given problem statement?

Let "x" be the length of each side of the base and "y" be the height. What is the volume in terms of x and y? What is the total area in terms of x and y?

how do you solve a volume with 2 variables???

Originally Posted by OceanicBlue

how do you solve a volume with 2 variables???

you come up with two equations ... the object equation (cost) and constraint equation (volume).