1. The highway department is planning to build a picnic area for motorists along a major highway. It is to be rectangular with an area of 5,000 square yards and is to be fence

1. The highway department is planning to build a picnic area for motorists along a major highway. It is to be rectangular with an area of 5,000 square yards and is to be fenced off on the three sides not adjacent to the highway. What is the least amount of fencing that will be needed to complete the job?

[Steven Lord]

This sounds like a homework assignment. If it is, show us the code you've written to try to solve the problem and ask a specific question about where you're having difficulty and we may be able to provide some guidance.

If you aren't sure where to start because you're not familiar with how to write MATLAB code, I suggest you start with the MATLAB Onramp tutorial (https://www.mathworks.com/support/learn-with-matlab-tutorials.html) to quickly learn the essentials of MATLAB.

If you aren't sure where to start because you're not familiar with the mathematics you'll need to solve the problem, I recommend asking your professor and/or teaching assistant for help.

[DGM]

Draw a diagram, label it

Write down an expression for the area

Write down an expression for the fence length

Substitute as necessary to get the expression of length as a function of a single variable

Use basic calculus or numerical tools to minimize it