- #1
Emethyst
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Homework Statement
A power line is to be constructed from a town to a mine that is located near a straight road going to the town. The point on the road closest to the mine is 7.5km from the town and 3km from the mine. The cost of building along the road is 4500$ per km, and through the forest to the mine, 7500$ per km. Find the minimum cost of the power line.
Homework Equations
Implicit differentation
The Attempt at a Solution
No idea how to start this one. I started by drawing a right angle triangle, where the right angle is the point closest to the mine that lies on the road and the hypotenuse is the line that runs from the mine to the town. After that I an unsure how to go about this one. From the prices it seems to me that rates may be involved in this, but after trying that out by using Pythagorean's Theorem it didn't get me anywhere (though I was close to the correct answer). If anyone could help me out here it would be greatly appreciated, thanks.