Investigating How to Get the Maximum Volume From a Cuboid

707 Words2 Pages

Investigating How to Get the Maximum Volume From a Cuboid

Introduction

I am doing an investigation into how get the maximum volume from a

cuboid using a square with smaller squares cut out from each corner to

then fold it up into a cuboid.

Cut out the red squares and fold inwards on the blue lines to get a

cuboid.

To get the maximum volume from the cuboid you need to work out the

sizes of the squares you want to cut out from each corner. The

formula I used to work out the volume for each cuboid was height x

width x length. Height is the width or length of the cut out square.

Width is the length of the square minus 2H, (2H is the width of the

cut out square times two). Width and length are the same.

How I got started

Firstly I chose a size of square to use, I chose 20cm. After this I

went through all of the possible lengths for the cut out squares to

be. I started by going through centimetres, 1cm to 4cm. I found the

turning point between 3cm and 4cm, it was 588cm^3. This now gave me a

wider range of numbers to work with. I now went through the numbers

3.1cm to 3.9cm. I found the turning point at 3.3cm, it was 592.54cm^3

I didn’t bother going further than 3.6cm because there was no point

because I had found the turning point. Now I had a more specific area

of numbers to go through. I now went through the numbers 3.31cm to

3.36cm. I found the turning point at 3.33cm, it was 592.592cm^3.

Now I have found out the maximum size for the cut out square I will

experiment by changing the size of the square. I already know that a

20cm square with 3.33cm cut out squares has a volume of 592.

Open Document