You are about to erase your work on this activity. Are you sure you want to do this?
Updated Version Available
There is an updated version of this activity. If you update to the most recent version of this activity, then your current progress on this activity will be erased. Regardless, your record of completion will remain. How would you like to proceed?
Mathematical Expression Editor
A rectangle is inscribed in the ellipse
\[ \frac {x^2}{3}+\frac {y^2}{5}=1 \]
so that two of its edges are parallel to the \(x\)-axis,
and the other two are parallel to the \(y\)-axis. Find the dimensions of the rectangle with
the largest area.
Area
of the rectangle \(A=2x\cdot 2y\). We will express \(A\) as a function of, say, \(x\). Note that \(x\) and \(y\) satisfy
the equation of the ellipse, so
\[ y^2=5- \frac {5x^2}{3} \]
Since in our figure \(y\ge 0\), we have
\[ y=\sqrt {5- \frac {5x^2}{3}} \]
Now
\(A(x)=2x\cdot 2\sqrt {5- \frac {5x^2}{3}}\).
The domain of \(A=\left [0,\answer {\sqrt {3}}\right ]\).
We have to find the critical points of \(A\).
\(A'(x)=4\cdot \sqrt {5- \frac {5x^2}{3}}+\frac {4x}{2\sqrt {5- \frac {5x^2}{3}}}\cdot \left (-\frac {10}{3}x\right )\). If we simplify \(A'(x)\), we get
The function \(A\) has the only critical point at \(x=\sqrt {\frac {\answer {3}}{2}}\).
Since the domain of \(A\) is a closed interval \(\left [0,\answer {\sqrt {3}}\right ]\), we have to evaluate the function \(A\) at the end
points and at the critical point: