Simple Optimization --for school

students
Srinivasan Nenmeli Ph D
Introduction
We will explore simple methods of optimization with
middle school/high school math---at the same time
illustrating with several 'every day applications'
which makes the learning fun and useful!!
Here is a simple mathematical tutorial for you, using
the stuff you learned in Algebra 1 and middle school
Geometry classes.
-------------------------------------------------
1 Using right triangles
Suppose you want to walk around a lawn with length
100 feet and width 100 feet. Let AB be the line segment
from initial position A towards east by 100 feet,
reaching B. Now you walk in perpendicular


direction,from B to C , another lap of 100 feet . The
total distance is
D = AB + BC = 100 + 100 =200 feet.
You could have walked diagonally,from A to C-- as most
of us do in a park.
Then AC =d = sqrt(2) AB = 1.414 x 100 = 141 feet.
[Recall the Pythagorian theorem ,since ABC is a right
triangle ; in this case AB = AC.]
What is the saving in distance you get by walking
diagonally?
Let us calculate the percent saving= (D- d)/D x100
Saving % = [200 -141]/200 x 100
= (2 - 1.41)/2 x 100
= 0.59/2 x100 ~ 30%
By walking diagonally across a square lawn, you save
30% of your walking distance!
Exercise 1
1 Calculate the distance saved in % when you walk
across a field with 300 meters width and 400 meters


length. [Ans : The diagonal distance is 500
m. [7 -5]/7 x 100, less than 30%]

2 Using a chord instead of a circular path
The engineers who construct highways and railroads
employ this principle: try to put the road or track
along a chord of a circle, instead of a circular path
or track.
Let us take an extremely simple case.
Consider a circular track of diameter 1000 meters.
Instead of running along the circular track, let us run
across a diametrical path:
Along circular arc, for half a circle:distance
Y = D /2 = 1.57 D where D is the diameter.
Along the diameter: X = D
The saving in distance = [1.57-1]/1.57 x100 = 36.3%
Suppose you run a track for less than a semicircle,
then the chord distance can be calculated from the
central angle made and some simple geometry...I leave


this as an exercise for you to do.
Exercise 2
Find the distance saved if a rail road track is laid
for a circular arc with central angle of 120 degrees
,using a chord line across the arc.

3 Container problems
For a given volume V, the shape to enclose this volume
with minimal surface area is ,of course , a sphere.
We shall express this mathematically by a factor:
F = Volume/ surface area

We can state that the cost of a container or can is
roughly proportional to its surface area-- because we
have to pay for the area of material [cardboard or
metal sheet] used for making the container.
Therefore our problem is to:
maximise the volume for a given surface area OR
minimize the surface area for a given [specified]


volume.
Mathematically , this means that we have to maximize
the ratio F = volume/surface area ;OR
minimize the ratio F' = 1/F = surface area/volume.
Let us stick to the requirement:
" MAXIMIZE THE RATIO F = VOLUME/SURFACE AREA. "
We have to consider different shapes of containers
because we cannot always make spherical containers.
Spherical containers are difficult to fill and pack and
transport, though you may find some cosmetic containers
almost like a sphere.
Let us explore the 'best designs' for rectangular
boxes, the easy ones , and later cyclindrical
containers.
[Later we will apply this approach for designing water
tanks and grain silos!]
Sphere
By the way, what is the expression for F for a sphere?
Volume of a sphere =V = (4/3) r
3




where r is the radius.
Surface area = S =4 r
2

Therefore ,the ratio F = V/S = r
Greater the radius, larger this factor...therefore
bigger spheres store more per unit area of surface
[material of the container] than smaller spheres. There
are many applications of this principle.
[Powders with small grain size have large surface area
to volume compared to larger globules. A spherical
candy piece takes more time to chew compared to a
spoonful of sugar. Drop a candy into a glass cup. Put
some sugar crystals into a cup of water...Which one
dissolves faster? The one with large surface area--the
sugar cyrstals!]
Rectangular Boxes
We can design simple boxes with larger volumes for a
given surface area , by adjusting the ' relative size'
of length,width and height.
First let us derive the formula for F = volume/surface


area.
[Note that we should always derive a simple formula and
then manipulate or alter the entities or variables to
get maximum of the factor F for our problem.]
Volume of a box V = L W H
where L --length,
W --width and
H -- height.
Surface area S = 2 [ L W + W H + LH]
[Note:I hope these formulas are familiar to you from
middle school math books.]
F = V/ S
Now let us explore different kinds of boxes.
Case 1 -- A chunky box L = W = H [ a cube!]
F= L
3
/ 6 L
2
= L/6
Case 2 -- The top and bottom are squares.
L = W ;
In this case let us take two subcases:
Case 2a : H= 2L ---> A tall box


Then V = L .L.2L = 2 L
3

S = 2 [L.L + 2L.L + 2L.L] = 10 L
2

F = L/5
case 2b; L = W H= (1/2)L
Then V = L.L .(1/2)L = L
3
/2
S = 2 [L.L + (1/2)L.L + (1/2)L.L] = 4 L
2

F = L/8
Consider all the three cases:
Case 1 L = W = H F =L/6
Case 2a L = W ; H = 2L F = L/5
Case 2b L = W; H = L/2 F = L/8
Which 'sizing' has larger F ?
Obviously case 1 when L = W =H which is a cube,a chunky
box and case 2 a are preferable. This is not surprising
because a chunky box or a cube is approaching a sphere;
A tall box with height twice that of length or width is
having higher value of F than a cube!
For fine grains and liquids, we can use a nearly
cubical containers...but for a shoe box, you may use


case 2 b because the shoe kept inside is longish.
[Have we explored all the cases possible? no;
Consider the case L = W H = 3L for example.]

Cylindrical Boxes
Most containers are cylindrical boxes. The general
formula for F = volume/surface area we will derive
first.
Volume of a cylinder V = area of a circle x height
= r
2
h
where r is the radius and h the height.
Surface area S = lateral surface area + top & bottom
area
S = 2 r h + 2 r
2

Therefore F = V/S = [r h]/2(h+r)
Now we can explore different shapes of cylinders.
Case 1 A chunky cylinder: h = 2r
[Height of the cylinder equals the diameter.]
F = [2 r.r]/6 r = r/3 = 0.33 r


Case 2 a: Consider the case of a tall cylinder h = 4r
[a Pringle container]
Then F = [4r.r]/10 r = r/2.5 = 0.4 r
Case 2b: Consider a flat cylinder h = r [ a cookie box]
Then F = [r.r] /4r = r/4 = 0.25 r
Comparing the three cases,Case 1 and case 2(a) have
nearly the same F values. case 2 a is better!
You mau prefer case 2a if you wish the container to be
easy to grip as a tall object like a coke bottle.
But cookie tin makers prefer case 2b, which gives the
appearance of a large tin.
----------------------------------------------------
Silo designs
Have you seen large grain silos, especially in the
Midwest of the US? They are tall cylinders, but with
hemispherical or conical [funnel like]bottom. Yes, we
can combine shapes like a hemisphere and a tall
cylinder .Find the factor F for this shape as an
exercise!


Exercise 3
Find the F factor for a silo with height 3 times the
diameter and a hemispherical bottom.
Other examples for Volume/surface area optimisation
Architecture
Suppose you are asked to design a house "with minimum
outer wall surface area" to reduce the loss of heat
from the house in a cold country....What would be your
solution? You could think of a hemispherical
[half-sphere] dome like structure...well, that is what
Eskimos do!
For normal houses with living areas, it is difficult to
have a hemispherical home. One approach could be a
cylindrical house with a dome like or conical
roof...like some medieval towers! You can have also a
house in the shape of a hexagon to reduce heat loss
instead of a square or rectangular shape of most
houses. You can work out the volume/surface area ratio
or F for such designs ,though you may not be able to


use all the inside volume in some shapes.
Buckminister Fuller ['Bucky Fuller'] explored such
designs and came up with 'geodesic domes'....a
fascinating subject you can
study.] A few houses have been built with this design.
Tanks in chemical industry
Several tanks are built to store or process chemicals
in a chemical industry. Many of them may hold liquids
at various temperatures. Often there is a need to
reduce heat loss from the surface. Again think of
designs with large volume/surface area [F] ratios.
They are designed with hemispherical bottom or conical
bottom which also helps to drain the liquids easily.
Many tanks which are kept horizontal are made of
cylindrical tube with hemi-spherical end caps or
cigar shaped!
4 The Crawling Ant
The following is a well known puzzle. Imagine a room
which is cubical in shape. An ant has to crawl from one


corner at the floor level and reach the diagonally
opposite point at the ceiling.
What would be the path the ant would take , minimizing
the distance crawled on the floor and the wall?
Such problems are solved by 'exploding the box'
[opening the box] approach.
Assume that the room is made of cardboard box and you
open the box to flatten the wall. Then you have two
squares: ABCD which is the floor and another square
BCEF of the wall. Now you join points A and E which
represent the opposite corners of the room by a
straight line, the shortest distance between the two
points.
Let the line AE cut BC at G.
The path is A-G-E which is the hypotenuse of the right
triangle AFE. You can work out this distance which is
shorter than crawling along the edge of the floor and
the wall.
5 Optimisation with two functions.


Most optimisation in management comes from the need to
find the optimal point which involves two functions
--one increasing with the main variable and another
decreasing with the same variable.
Consider a supermarket buying and storing some bulky
item like paper towels. There are two costs:
1 Cost of purchase which keeps decreasing if you buy
large quantites from the supplier--You get what is
called 'quantity discount'.
Suppose x cartons of towels are bought, the cost is
given as follows:
x C[$] cost per carton C/x
10 30 $3
20 25 $ 0.8
40 20 $ 0.25
80 16 $ 0.2
The second cost is that of storage in the warehouse;
this cost W increases steadily with number of cartons
at the rate shown below:


X W
10 5
20 6
40 9
80 12
The total cost is C'= C/x + w
X C'
10 8
20 6.8
40 9.25
80 12.2
The total cost decreases first and then starts
increasing. The optimal level quantity to buy and store
could be the minimum of C'--when x is between 20 and 40
cartons, that is C' is about 7.
Let us explore further:
For X = 30 , C = 22 C/x = 0.77
W = 7
Total cost C' = 7.77


This is not the minimum.
Take x= 25 C = 21 C/x = 0.84
w = 6.5
Total cost C' = 7.34
we could take x= 25 as the order quantity for which C'
is a minimum.
So the store manager would order 25 cartons each time.
Such 'business decisions' are routinely made by
managers using simple algebra.
6 Mixing Problems --A trail mix
optimization
You are asked to find a formulation of a new trail mix
--
"PROMIX"
with maximum protein content at a minimal price.
Consider only the two main ingredients for protein in
the trail mix : PEANUTS AND ALMONDS.
Let us consider 100 grams of a mix of peanuts and
almonds:


If X is the amount of peanuts in grams, Y is the amount
of almonds, then
X + Y = 100 ---------(equation 1)
The % of protein in peanut is 20% and the % of protein
in almonds is 40% [by weight.]
Then weight of protein in the mix:
0.2 X + 0.4 Y = Z , the weight of protein
-------------(equation 2)
The cost factor is as follows: 100 grams of peanuts
cost $ 1 and 100 grams of almonds cost $3.
Then the cost of one gram of peanut is 0.01$ and that
of almonds is 0.03$.
The cost equation becomes:
0.01 X + 0.03 Y = C ---------(equation 3)
We have three equations to handle.
Our aim is as follows:
MAXIMIZE PROTEIN CONTENT --THAT IS 'Z'.
MINIMIZE THE COST--- THAT IS 'C'.
At first this problem may appear tough...but not so.


There are two variables X and Y in the equations?--
but no there is really only one, since X + Y =100
and Y = 100 - X.
Therefore we will rewrite the equations 2 and 3 :
0.2 X + 0.4 (100 - X) = Z
-0.2 X + 40 = Z -------[equation 5]
0.01 X + 0.03 (100 - X) = C
-0.02 X + 3 = C ----------[equation 6]
Note that we wish to maximize Z and minimize C.
Let us fix the minimum protein expected by customers as
20 grams.
If Z = 20, then -0.2X +40 = 20
-0.2X = -20
x= 100 grams
It is all peanuts only,no almonds.! Well,such a mix
won't
sell in the stores.
Note that if X = 75 grams ,then Y = 25 grams. We would
get


using equation 5, -0,2 x 75 + 40 = 25 grams of
protein.
Cost would be : equation 6 --- -0.02 x75 + 3 = 1.5$
Let us try if X = 50 grams of peanuts.
-0.2 x 50 + 40 = 30 grams of protein
Cost: -0.02 x 50 + 3 = 2 $
Let us try if X = 25 grams of peanuts.
-0.2 x 25 + 40 = 35 grams of protein
Cost: -0.02 x 25 +3 = 2.5 $
Let us summarize the various combinations of mix:
X amount of peanuts Z C [$] rate:Z/C
25 35 2.5 14
50 30 2 15
75 25 1.5 16.6
---------------------------------------------

Note that as the amount of peanuts decrease and the
amount of almonds increase, the cost keeps going up;
but the protein


content Z also increases.What is the optimal mix?
The answer depends on the price level that would be
welcomed
by the consumer. If the consumers expect about $2 per
100 grams,
then it has to be 50%peanuts + 50% almond mix.
But take the rate of increase of protein with cost. The
ratio
Z/c is higher around X = 75 %. Therefore optimum mix
could be
around 75% peanuts and 25% almonds.
[Note: This class of problems is called 'Linear
Programming'
and this example is a very simple illustration of the
ideas behind LP.]



7 Optimize a car speed


This class of optimization problems employ a
'quadratic expression' like :
Y = a + bX + c x
2

Y' = a + b X would be a 'linear' or
straight line relationship. To this we add
a "quadratic term' which is c x
2 .

The constant terms a,b and c are called
'coefficients'.
For optimisation of Y, 'b' and 'c' should
be of opposite signs: if b is positive, c
shpuld be negative; if b is negative, c
should be positive.
Here is a simple example.
My compact car gives the following fuel
consumption rate for 100 mile run with


speed S [x];
F (fuel consumption)or Y speed S or X
1 gallon 10 miles per hour
0.9 gallon 30 mph
It is usually the case: as I increase the
speed, the fuel consumption for a given
distance reduces a little bit due to higher
engine speed.
From this data, we can write a linear
[straight line ] relationship for F versus
S;
y' = a + b S
{ Recall the slope-intercept form.]
The slope b = [1-0.9]/ [10 -30]
= - 0.1/20 = - 1/200 = -0.005


Note the negative sign of the slope because
F 'decreases' with increasing speed,S.
Let us find the intercept:
For speed 10 mph, we get
F =1 = a - 0.005 x 10
Therefore a = 1 + 0.05 = 1.05
We can write: y' = 1.05 - 0.005 S


Vehicles when they run, encounter air
resistance or friction called "drag".
Therefore they need more fuel to overcome
this 'drag force' or frictional force.
[There will be no drag force on the moon if
you drive a vehicle up there!]


Engineers have found that the additional
fuel consumption y'' due to drag [force]
can be written as:
y'' = c S
2

From trials, they found for my car,
c= 0.00005.
Adding the two terms y' and y", we get the
final expression:
Therefore F = Y' + Y"
F = 1.05 - 0.005 S + 0.00005 S
2

Note that the two coefficients b and c are
of opposite signs.
Now we are ready to 'optimize the speed'
with this quadratic equation.
Let us try five speeds:


Speed S [mph] F (gallons)
40 1.05 - 0.2 + 0.09 = 0.94
50 0.925
60 0.93
70 0.945
80 0.97

Note that F decreases with speed upto
about 50 mph and then F increases with the
speed.
The optimum speed for my car for minimum
fuel consumption is about 50 mph.
This is what is stipulated on most roads.
I can drive faster to reduce the time of
travel, but then the fuel consumption will


go up!
Now a few words about 'styling' of a car. A
car body shape is styled with smooth
curvature going up from the hood through
the front wind shield and then drops gently
to the rear bumper -- a streamlined shape
mainly to reduce the drag force, that is
the coefficient 'C'. Smaller the 'c',
greater the fuel efficiency.
You can now understand why trucks have
greater drag due to 'blunt nose' front side
and , of course,they are designed to run at
slow speeds.
By the same token, note the smooth styling
of race or sport cars to reduce the drag


compared to any compact car! They have long
smooth shape snoot-like front 'to pierce'
the air at high speeds.
[The same principle of drag force applies
to aircraft too, which have smooth sloping
bodies; they face less air friction at high
altitudes because the density of air
decreases with altitude. That is why a
commercial jet usually has cruise
altitudes of 9 to 10 kilometers;except
small planes, usually propeller aircraft
,for short distance flights fly at low
altitudes.]
--------------------------------------------
Exercise 4


Find the optimum speed for a sports car
with C = 0.000025, half the C value for my
car.!
--------------------------------------------
8 Making a tray--optimize volume
Here is a simple project with cardboard.
Take a cardboard sheet of 8 in x 12 inches.
Case 1: Cut four squares at the four
corners of 1 in x 1 in and remove the
pieces.
You are left with a tray of area 6in x 10
in . Fold the flaps at four corners and
tape them. You have a tray of volume V;
V = 6 x 10 x1 = 60 cubic inches.
This tray has a height of 1 inches.


Case 2:Now suppose you cut four squares of
2 in at the four corners. You would have a
height of 2 in for the tray,but the area
would be reduced.
Volume in this case: V' = 4in x 8in x 2in=
V' = 64 cubic inches.
V' is greater than V and therefore you may
prefer 2 in squares being cut.
Case 3: Cut four squares of 3 in from four
corners and make a tray:
Volume V" = 2in x 6in x 3 in = 36 cubic
inches.
V" is less than V'.
Therefore the optimum size is somewhere
between 2in height and 3 inches height.


Case 4 Try cutting 2.5 in from four corners
and make a tray.
Volume V"' = 3in x 7in x 2,5 in = 52.5
cubic in.
This is less than V' but greater than V".
Case 5 : Let us try 2.25 in cut;
Then Volume V"" = 3.5 in x 7.5 in x 2.25 in
= 59.06 cu in.

Therefore we can conclude that the optimum
size is with height between2 to 2.25 in.
[Note: If you know Calculus, you can solve
this problem elegantly.We have used a
'repeated trial' approach...that is Okay at
middle school level...]


You get an idea how optimization problems
arise in real life!!
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