# Minimizing area of a poster with fixed printed area

• November 10th 2008, 08:58 AM
fishguts
Minimizing area of a poster with fixed printed area
I have a calc problem I am having problems with.

The top and botom margins of a poster are 6cm and the side margins are each 4cm. If the area of printed material on the poster is fixed at 384cm^2 find the dimensions of the poster with the smallest area.

I am just having problems setting up an equation to start solving this problem. I tried setting up a formula for finding the total area of the entire poster then subtracting the area of the printed area but that didnt seem to work. Can someone help me out? Thanks
• November 10th 2008, 09:13 AM
tbgh
$(l-12)(w-8)=384$

Then you'll solve for one of the variables and substitute it into the classic $l * w = A$.

Next just find the minimum.
• November 10th 2008, 09:27 AM
fishguts
Thanks for the reply! Right before I read your post I got the solution doing it a little bit different. But thanks for the help