A(x)=−41(x−25)2+625The area, A(x), of a rectangular enclosure that can be made from a limited amount of fencing is shown, where x is the length of one of the sides of the enclosure, measured in feet. What is the maximum area that can be enclosed in square feet?
Q. A(x)=−41(x−25)2+625The area, A(x), of a rectangular enclosure that can be made from a limited amount of fencing is shown, where x is the length of one of the sides of the enclosure, measured in feet. What is the maximum area that can be enclosed in square feet?
Identify Parabola Form: We are given the function A(x)=−(41)(x−25)2+625, which represents the area of a rectangular enclosure. To find the maximum area, we need to find the vertex of the parabola represented by this function, as it is a downward-opening parabola (indicated by the negative coefficient of the squared term).
Find Vertex Coordinates: The function is in the form of a quadratic equationA(x)=a(x−h)2+k, where (h,k) is the vertex of the parabola. In this case, h=25 and k=625. Since the coefficient a is negative, the vertex represents the maximum point of the parabola.
Calculate Maximum Area: The maximum area that can be enclosed is the value of A(x) at the vertex. Since we have identified the vertex as (h,k)=(25,625), the maximum area A(x) is k, which is 625 square feet.
No Derivatives Needed: We do not need to take any derivatives or set the derivative equal to zero because the vertex form of the quadratic function directly gives us the maximum value for this downward-opening parabola.