[It is given that the area of a sector of a circle with radius and angle is given by .] A florist owns a greenhouse in the shape of a circular sector , with center , and intends to enclose a rectangular area to grow roses. The garden is represented in the diagram below by a fixed sector where and radians. The rectangular area is inscribed in sector such that radians.

- (i)
By considering triangles and , or otherwise, show that the area of rectangle , .
- (ii)
Using differentiation, find the maximum value of in exact form.
- (iii)
The florist subsequently decides to use remaining regions in the sector to grow marigolds.
The cost of maintaining the plants each month, $C, can be broken down into $5/m for roses and $4/m for marigolds.
Sketch the graph of as varies, indicating any turning point(s) and end point(s).
- (iv)
Hence determine the range of values of for the florist to have a maintenance cost of less than $220.
It won't just hand you the answer — it asks where you're stuck.How the checker works
Worked solution
11(i)
1. Find the lengths of $ZY$ and $OY$ in terms of $\theta$.
In the right-angled , m (since lies on the arc of the sector with radius 10) and .
2. Find the length of $OX$ using $\triangle OWX$.
Since is a rectangle, .
In the right-angled , .
3. Find the area of the rectangle and simplify to the required form using double angle identity.
The width of the rectangle is .
The area of the rectangle is given by :
Using the identity and rationalising :
(Shown)
11(ii)
1. Differentiate the area function $A$ with respect to $\theta$.
Using the double angle identity :
2. Set the derivative to zero and solve for $\theta$.
For a stationary point, :
Since the rectangle is inside a sector of angle , , so .
3. Perform the second derivative test to verify it is a maximum point.
When (so ):
Since both terms are negative, . Hence, the area is maximised when .
4. Calculate the exact maximum area.
Substitute into the expression for :
11(iii)
1. Formulate the expression for the total cost $C$ in terms of the area $A$.
The area of the sector is .
The area left for marigolds is the remaining area: .
The total cost is given by:
2. Find the coordinates of the turning point using the maximum value of $A$.
From part (ii), the maximum value of occurs at and is .
Substituting this into the expression for gives the maximum cost:
Hence, the turning point is a maximum at .
3. Determine the domain of $\theta$ and the coordinates of the end points.
Based on the geometry of the sector, the inscribed rectangle is constrained by .
At , , so .
At , evaluating gives , so .
The end points are and .
4. Describe the required sketch.
Draw a set of axes for against . The graph is an inverted U-shape starting from the point , smoothly rising to the maximum turning point at , and symmetrically falling back down to the end point at .
[A sketch of a concave-down, bell-shaped curve is required]
- End points: and
- Turning point (Maximum):
11(iv)
1. Formulate the total maintenance cost $C$ in terms of $\theta$ and set up the inequality.
The total area of the sector is:
The maintenance cost, , involves $5/m for the rectangular area and $4/m for the remaining sector area:
To find when the cost is less than $220, we set up the inequality:
2. Solve for the boundary values of $\theta$ using a graphing calculator.
Using a graphing calculator, we find the values of that satisfy the equation .
The points of intersection are:
3. Determine the valid range of $\theta$ by interpreting the roots alongside the geometric domain.
The physical domain of the inscribed rectangle requires to be within .
From the shape of the graph of sketched in part (iii) (an inverted U-shape starting from a minimum value of at the boundaries), the cost is strictly less than $220 in the intervals outside the two roots.
Hence, restricting to 3 significant figures, the range of values for is:
AI analysis — may contain mistakes.
Worked this one out on paper? Snap your steps and Gigle's AI math checker will circle the step where it went wrong.
More questions on this topic
- 1[The volume of a cone of base radius and height is given by .] A manufacturer makes a…
- 2A sector of angle radians and radius is used to form the curved surface of a right circular co…
- 3As part of an Art Project, a student designed a lantern in the shape of an octahedron as shown in the diagram. The frame…
- 4The following diagram shows the dimensions of a trapezoidal prism with fixed volume units, with varia…
- 5[The volume of a right circular cone of radius and height is .] A student makes a printer…