AboutAbe Mantell Expertise Hello, I am a college professor of mathematics and regularly teach all levels from elementary mathematics through differential equations, and would be happy to assist anyone with such questions!
Experience Over 15 years teaching at the college level.
Question Find two numbers whose sum is 30,such that the sum of their squares is a maximum.
Answer Let x=one of the numbers, then 30-x is the other.
The sum of the squares will then be: x^2 + (30-x)^2
Which is x^2 + 900 - 60x + x^2 = 2x^2 - 60x + 900
The trouble now is that there is no maximum! Do the numbers need to
both be positive? Or perhaps the question really is looking for the
sum to be a minimum?
