Monday, 5 January 2015

calculus - help: isosceles triangle circumscribing a circle of radius r

Please help me show that: the equilateral triangle of altitute $3r$ is the isosceles triangle of least area circumscribing a circle of radius $r$.




Iassumed the following:



base = $2a$



height = $h$



radius of circle = $r$



Area = $\frac{1}{2}(2a)h = ah$




$tan(2\theta) = \frac{h}{a}$ and $tan\theta = \frac{r}{a} $



Ii tried using double angle identities to represent h in terms of a and \theta but I have failed miserably.



This is what I ended up with:
$\displaystyle{%
h={2r\cos^{2}\left(\theta\right) \over 2\cos^{2}\left(\theta\right) - 1}}$



I know i need to differentiate the area and set to zero, but I can't get it. please direct me how to solve this problem. Thank you;

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