BLM

Memo
To:

BLM CEO

From:

Jacob Burton

Date:

November 17, 2016

Re:

Minimum Cost Proposal

After working through the different scenarios for the proposed pipeline, I have found that

the way to minimize the cost of the project would be to cut through the private ground and then
through BLM ground to reach the refinery. Listed below is the methodology used to find the
minimum cost, project specifications, the cost function, and the calculations for the other
proposed projects.
Minimum Cost Project Methodology
To find the cost function, I started by writing the function in terms of B (the distance
across BLM ground) and P (the distance across private ground). The resulting equation was =
390,000 + 300,000. Then, I defined the distance across the private ground and the distance
across BLM ground by x which is the distance in miles the pipeline travels East across the
private property (see figure 2). This gave me = 225 + 2 and = 24 . Once I found this,
I replaced B and P in the cost equation with the previous equations to get =
390,000225 + 2 + 300,000(24 )) and then simplified to get = 30,000(13225 + 2 +
10(24 )).
To find the minimum cost, I took the derivative of the cost function, which is

 = 30,000 (

13

225+ 2

10). Then, I set the derivative of the cost function equal to zero and
7500
.
23

solved for x to find the x value that would minimize the cost, which is

Afterwards, I

input this value back into the original cost equation to find the minimum cost.
Project Specifications:
Minimum Cost: $10,937,980.74
Distance across Private Ground: 225 +

7500

23

7500

23

Distance across BLM Ground: 24

23.4752

5.9421

Angle of Pipeline across Private Ground: tan1 (

7500
1
15)
23

.8776

For a visual representation of specifications, see figure 2.

Cost Function of cutting across Private Ground:

= 30,000(13225 + 2 + 10(24 )) Where x is the distance in miles the pipeline travels
East across the private property.

Proposed Project Calculations

a)
i. $300,000(8 + 15 + 32) = $16,500,000
ii. $4,200,000 + $150,000 + $300,000(15) + $75,000(5) +
$300,000(32 8) = $16,425,000
b)
i. (32 8)2 + 152 ($300,000 + $90,000) = $1,170,00089
$11,037,757.92
ii. 15($300,000 + $90,000) + (32 8)($300,000) = $13,050,000

Reflection
Of all the skills that I have learned in calculus, I believe that finding the derivative is the
most useful. The reason why I believe this is that with this skill, I can find the velocity and
acceleration of an object along with finding the minimum or maximum values of a function. Since
I am going into the engineering field, I will likely use this skill to find the velocity and acceleration
of an object based off of data from a table and to determine the maximum stress a material can
withstand without breaking.

Figures and Graphs

Figure 1
Proposed Project Scenarios
Scenario
ai
aii
bi
bii

Figure 2
Minimum cost Project

= .8776rad
X=18.058 mi
5.9421

Dollars (In Millions)

Minimum Cost Graph

(18.058, 10.0938)

Length of x (see fig 2) in Miles