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Use the method of Lagrange multipliers to find the maximum value of f ( x , y ) = 9 x 2 + 36 x y 4 y 2 18 x 8 y subject to the constraint 3 x + 4 y = 32 .

f has a maximum value of 976 at the point ( 8 , 2 ) .

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Let’s now return to the problem posed at the beginning of the section.

Golf balls and lagrange multipliers

The golf ball manufacturer, Pro-T, has developed a profit model that depends on the number x of golf balls sold per month (measured in thousands), and the number of hours per month of advertising y , according to the function

z = f ( x , y ) = 48 x + 96 y x 2 2 x y 9 y 2 ,

where z is measured in thousands of dollars. The budgetary constraint function relating the cost of the production of thousands golf balls and advertising units is given by 20 x + 4 y = 216 . Find the values of x and y that maximize profit, and find the maximum profit.

Again, we follow the problem-solving strategy:

  1. The optimization function is f ( x , y ) = 48 x + 96 y x 2 2 x y 9 y 2 . To determine the constraint function, we first subtract 216 from both sides of the constraint, then divide both sides by 4 , which gives 5 x + y 54 = 0 . The constraint function is equal to the left-hand side, so g ( x , y ) = 5 x + y 54 . The problem asks us to solve for the maximum value of f , subject to this constraint.
  2. So, we calculate the gradients of both f and g :
    f ( x , y ) = ( 48 2 x 2 y ) i + ( 96 2 x 18 y ) j g ( x , y ) = 5 i + j .

    The equation f ( x 0 , y 0 ) = λ g ( x 0 , y 0 ) becomes
    ( 48 2 x 0 2 y 0 ) i + ( 96 2 x 0 18 y 0 ) j = λ ( 5 i + j ) ,

    which can be rewritten as
    ( 48 2 x 0 2 y 0 ) i + ( 96 2 x 0 18 y 0 ) j = λ 5 i + λ j .

    We then set the coefficients of i and j equal to each other:
    48 2 x 0 2 y 0 = 5 λ 96 2 x 0 18 y 0 = λ .

    The equation g ( x 0 , y 0 ) = 0 becomes 5 x 0 + y 0 54 = 0 . Therefore, the system of equations that needs to be solved is
    48 2 x 0 2 y 0 = 5 λ 96 2 x 0 18 y 0 = λ 5 x 0 + y 0 54 = 0.
  3. We use the left-hand side of the second equation to replace λ in the first equation:
    48 2 x 0 2 y 0 = 5 ( 96 2 x 0 18 y 0 ) 48 2 x 0 2 y 0 = 480 10 x 0 90 y 0 8 x 0 = 432 88 y 0 x 0 = 54 11 y 0 .

    Then we substitute this into the third equation:
    5 ( 54 11 y 0 ) + y 0 54 = 0 270 55 y 0 + y 0 = 0 216 54 y 0 = 0 y 0 = 4.

    Since x 0 = 54 11 y 0 , this gives x 0 = 10 .
  4. We then substitute ( 10 , 4 ) into f ( x , y ) = 48 x + 96 y x 2 2 x y 9 y 2 , which gives
    f ( 5 , 1 ) = 48 ( 10 ) + 96 ( 4 ) ( 10 ) 2 2 ( 10 ) ( 4 ) 9 ( 4 ) 2 = 480 + 384 100 80 144 = 540.

    Therefore the maximum profit that can be attained, subject to budgetary constraints, is $ 540,000 with a production level of 10,000 golf balls and 4 hours of advertising bought per month. Let’s check to make sure this truly is a maximum. The endpoints of the line that defines the constraint are ( 10.8 , 0 ) and ( 0 , 54 ) Let’s evaluate f at both of these points:
    f ( 10.8 , 0 ) = 48 ( 10.8 ) + 96 ( 0 ) 10.8 2 2 ( 10.8 ) ( 0 ) 9 ( 0 2 ) = 401.76 f ( 0 , 54 ) = 48 ( 0 ) + 96 ( 54 ) 0 2 2 ( 0 ) ( 54 ) 9 ( 54 2 ) = −21 , 060.

    The second value represents a loss, since no golf balls are produced. Neither of these values exceed 540 , so it seems that our extremum is a maximum value of f .
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A company has determined that its production level is given by the Cobb-Douglas function f ( x , y ) = 2.5 x 0.45 y 0.55 where x represents the total number of labor hours in 1 year and y represents the total capital input for the company. Suppose 1 unit of labor costs $ 40 and 1 unit of capital costs $ 50 . Use the method of Lagrange multipliers to find the maximum value of f ( x , y ) = 2.5 x 0.45 y 0.55 subject to a budgetary constraint of $ 500,000 per year.

A maximum production level of 13890 occurs with 5625 labor hours and $ 5500 of total capital input.

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Practice Key Terms 5

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Source:  OpenStax, Calculus volume 3. OpenStax CNX. Feb 05, 2016 Download for free at http://legacy.cnx.org/content/col11966/1.2
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