Excel for Marketing Managers

Finding Maximum Area and Volume

Finding Max

Area and

Volume

Finding Maximum Area and Volume

Opportunity...............................................................................................................................

Guess and check is a legitimate problem solving skill that can be used to allow
students to solve some types of problems that normally would use mathematics
beyond their current knowledge. Both of the maximization problems in this
chapter can be solved using calculus or pre-calculus mathematics. However,
students with a basic understanding of area and volume can use those skills in
a guess and check process if guided carefully by their instructor. Advanced
eighth or ninth graders might also enjoy working on them independently.

With paper and pencil, the process for these problems can be somewhat
tedious. Excel allows you to develop the formula for the process and let the
computer do the computations.

Solution and Overview – Farmer’s Fence

Here is the problem: A farmer has a length of fencing material with which he
wants to make a three-sided enclosure against the side of his barn. With that
given amount of material, what is the largest area that can be enclosed?

What is the formula for finding the area of a rectangle? How can we come up
with a length and a width based on the given total perimeter of 100 ft.? Go
through a process of guessing and checking, starting with a width that is one
foot away from the building that the fence will be built against, giving you a
rectangle that is 1’ x 98’. Increase the width in one foot increments, subtracting
two feet from the length each time. Depending on your students, you can adapt
the increments to incorporate fractional amounts (0.5’, 0.25’, etc.).