A 2 feet piece of wire is cut into two pieces and once piece is bent into a square and the other is bent into an equilateral triangle. How much wire should be used for the square to ensure that the total area enclosed by both shapes is minimized?

Question

jim_thompson5910 · Answer

start with the 2 ft piece of wire

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jim_thompson5910 · Answer

cut it at any point inside the length of the wire

let x be the length of one piece

the other piece would have to be 2-x (since the two pieces must add back up to 2)

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