A farmer wishes to construct 3 adjacent enclosures alongside a river. Each enclosure is x feet wide and y feet long. No fence is required along the river, so each enclosure is fenced along 3 sides. The total enclosure area of all 3 enclosures combined is to be 900 square feet. What is the least amount of fence required?
A = 3xy = 900;
F = 3y + 4x = 900/x + 4x;
dF/dx = 4 - 900/x^2,
which will be 0 when
x = sqrt(900/4) = 15.
Then y = 900/45 = 20, and
F = 60 + 60 = 120 feet.