Mathematics Higher Level Internal

Assessment

Minimizing the Packaging

Materials of Different Shaped
Products
Introduction
As I’m also a Business & Management student I came across product
packaging which is used in order to attract and persuade the consumers
by making the product look aesthetically pleasing which generates
interest in the mind of consumer. However, most of the time products
are packaged with excessive material like plastic, metals, synthetic
fibres, aluminium, Glass, etc. These material requires a very long period
of time to decompose and moreover these materials are the major
contributor of pollution. Firms misuse resources in order to Improve
marketing aspects by overusing packaging of product which requires
more material and it is unnecessary, thus it becomes a threat to
environment by causing pollution and as well as unnecessary
consumption.
Pollution is rising at a constant rate which is affecting the people as well
the mother Earth itself in numerous ways in which Land pollution is
becoming a major concern recently. Food and household products are
one of the main contributors of land-pollution as they mostly come in
packaging of plastic which is a non-decomposable material and is
considered as the most threatening material for the environment. Plastic
and metals are mostly used in packaging as they are low cost, they even
provide safety as well as beauty to the product and hence they are not
easy to be replaced by any other material. So reducing them can most
likely be a solution.
So as I’m an IB student, my IB learner profile traits motivate me to
explore both local and global issues and provide ideas along with
solutions to help the communities and societies. Therefore, with this
assessment I would like to share my views which can be implemented
by firms and governments to save resources and hence leading to
mitigation in pollution.

Statement of task and Rationale

My childhood’s dream of making the world a clean and a better place
has always encouraged me to take parts in various Social projects like
cleanliness drives, clothes distribution, fund raising for charity, etc. So
again I want to use this assignment as an opportunity to share my ideas
which can benefit the firms and the societies. With the help of theory of
optimization, I would like to apply my mathematics in the real world, first,
by deriving the formulas of optimal packaging required for different
shaped products like Frustum, Cone, Eclipse, Cuboid, cylindrical. Then, I
will find the packaging required according to my formula, this can assess
me by showing how much Packaging material is really required and how
much is wasted on each of the product. Through this, I can suggest the
Firms of the individual products by email and show them how can they
help the society by reducing the unnecessary packaging and also they
can save their resources as well.