A potential min-max problem from xkcd.
Due Friday November 18, 2018
Treat this like a normal homework assignment. You can work with each
other, ask me questions, work with tutors, consult other texts,
etc. The work you hand in, however, should represent your own
understanding. Be sure to thoroughly explain your solution
methods. I hope these are fun. Do one of the
following:
- Toward a Quantitative Mathematical Human Ecology of Soup Cans.
- Interstate Trucking: Project 3, Chapter Four, page 236. Parts (e) and (f) are optional.
- Firebreaks: Project 4, Chapter Four, page 237.
- The Calculus of Rainbows, from James Stewart, Single Variable Calculus: Concepts & Contexts, 3rd ed, Thompson, 2005 pp. 277-8. Just do part 1. This will require differentiating arcsin, which we haven't done in class but is covered in the trig function section of Chapter 3. I haven't assigned this problem before, so I'm not 100% sure how it will go.
- Landing a Plane, from James Stewart, Single Variable Calculus: Concepts & Contexts, 3rd ed, Thompson, 2005, p. 232.