Meadows or Malls: Writeup

By: Roan Harvey

The “Meadows or Malls” problem has been something we have been working on for a
while now, as there were many steps we needed to take to successfully solve the problem.
This problem was designed to be a real world situation involving our town Durango
Colorado.
Many years ago three separate pieces of land were left to the city. The Dalton Gang
Ranch left 300 acres, The U.S. Army left 100 acres and a mining company left 150 acres.
In all that meant the city of Durango had 550 acres to use as they wished. The issue was
many people disagreed on how they should split up the land. My job when solving this
problem was to collaborate with my peers to decide the cheapest way to split the land.
While taking into consideration the needs of all invested parties.

Solving the Problem:

When first looking at all the different parts of this problem I realized that I should first
come up with variables to define my constraints. As you can see below:

Army land used for Recreation - AR

Army land used for Development - AD
Ranch land used for Recreation - RR
Ranch land used for Development - RD
Mining land used for Recreation - MR
Mining land used for Development - MD

The next step we took when solving this problem was finding all the constraints. You find
constraints by looking at the requirements and deciphering what the problem is saying.
For this problem we have to take it into consideration…
There is a total of 300 acres of land for Dalton Ranch available for use, 100 acres of army
land for use and 150 acres of mining land available. But these are not the only
constraints, at least 300 acres of the 550 need to be used for development and 200 acres
of the mining and army land can be used for recreation. The final constraint that we
found was that at most the city could use 100 acres of army and ranch land for
development. The final 6 constraints are positivity constraints, meaning that there cannot
be any negative number when solving this problem because you can’t have a negative
amount of land. So in all there are 12 constraints, shown below in mathematical terms.
Constraints:
I. RR + RD = 300 VII. RR ≥ 0
II. AR + A D = 100 VIII. AR ≥ 0
III. MR + MD = 150 IX. MR ≥ 0
IV. RD + A D + MD ≥ 300 X. RD ≥ 0
V. AR + MR ≤ 200 XI. AD ≥ 0
VI. AR + RD = 100 XII. MD ≥ 0

* The reason that there are 3 constraints that are crossed off is because they are
redundant. For example if RR is 0 then RD cannot be 0 because as stated in constraints 1,
RR and RD must equal 300.

Profit Equation:
When the city was attempting to divide up the land, they realized that there was a specific
cost to develop the different pieces of land. You can see the price per parcel on the land
chart below.

Parcel Improvement costs per Improvement costs per

acre for recreation acre for development

Dalton Ranch $50 $500

The Old Fort $200 $2,000

The Boston Mine $100 $1,000

I then translated this chart in to an equation that would make more sense,
50RR + 500RD + 200AR + 2000AD + 100MR + 1000MD = Total Cost

The next step we took to solve this problem was to find all the different combinations of
the constraints we were given. We know that constraints 1, 2, 3, and 6 must be included
in every combination because all of the points must be satisfied with none floating around
the feasible region. We also know that we can narrow the list of combinations down
because the list must include all inequalities. After taking all of these factors into account
we end up with 10 combinations.
 ● I, II, III, VI, IV, V ● I, II, III, VI, V, IX
● I, II, III, VI, IV, VIII ● I, II, III, VI, V, XII
● I, II, III, VI, IV, IX ● I, II, III, VI, VIII, IX
● I, II, III, VI, IV, XII ● I, II, III, VI, VIII, XII
● I, II, III, VI, V, VIII ● I, II, III, VI, IX, XII

Matrices:
The next major part of solving this problem was to learn how to solve matrices so we can
use our knowledge to solve all of the combinations above and find the best solution. To
clarify, the definition of matrices I found online is,
“A rectangular array or table of numbers or symbols, arranged in rows and columns,
which is used to represent a mathematical object.” (Britannica) For our problem the rows
are each equation and the columns are the variables.
For example, the coefficient matrix corresponding to the first combination (1, 2, 3, 6, 5,
and 4) should look like this:
[110000]
[001100]
[000011]
[011000]
[010101]
[001010]

The next step when solving this problem was to create the sum matrix that corresponds
with the coefficient matrix above and the answers to each constraint. So for the first
combination it would look like this:
[ 300 ]
[ 100 ]
[ 150 ]
[ 100 ]
[ 300 ]
[ 200 ]
Now we can solve the equation by plugging both of these matrices into Desmos. This will
multiply the first matrix by its inverse and then multiply it by the second matrix. This
looks something like this, A^-1B. When you complete all of these steps you should be left
with your final matrix. The answer for the first combination is:

[ 50 ]
[ 250 ]
[ -150 ]
[ 250 ]
[ 350 ]
[ - 200 ]

We know from the answer that this combination does not work, because as I said earlier,
we cannot have a matrix with any negative numbers.

*When solving the matrices in Desmos it should look something like this.

Now we now know how to solve matrices, so next we need to repeat this process for
every different combination. After doing that the final step to solving this equation is to
take the combinations that work, in our case it was 3. And plugging them into the profit
equation we created in the beginning. For example the first combination that worked
would be:
50(200) + 500(100) + 200(0) + 2000(100) + 100(50) + 1000(100)= 365,000

Now we are able to find our final answer!

Solution:

The chart below shows the answer to each different combination, if it works and what the
final cost will be.
System RR RD AR AD MR MD Notes (fails _____/cost)

1, 2, 3, 6, 4, 5 50 250 -150 250 350 -200 Fails 8 and 12

1, 2, 3, 6, 4, 8 200 100 0 100 50 100 Costs: 365,000

1, 2, 3, 6, 4, 9 225 75 25 75 0 150 Costs: 353,750

1, 2, 3, 6, 4, 7 300 0 100 0 -150 300 Fails 9

1, 2, 3, 6, 5, 8 200 100 0 100 200 -50 Fails 12

1, 2, 3, 6, 5, 9 400 -100 200 -100 0 150 Fails

1, 2, 3, 6, 5, 7 250 50 50 50 150 0 Fails 4

1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 9 200 100 0 100 0 150 Costs: 410,000

1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 12 200 100 0 100 150 0 Fails 4

1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 12 No Inverse/Solution

The combination that will split up the ranch, army, and mining land when taking into
consideration the cost and wants of the town is:

1, 2, 3, 6, 4, 9 with a total cost of 353,750

 Meadows or Malls: Reflection

1. What growth have you noticed so far during your junior year in your collaborative
skills, and how did these changes affect your ability to work with your group
members?
Throughout the school year so far I feel that my confidence has really improved
when working with a group. I have never seen myself as a strong mathematician,
and therefore I usually struggle to contribute to my fullest potential. But while
working on group projects this year I have realized that there is more than one way
to be a helpful worker in a group. When working to solve problems with my peers,
my confidence has grown in solving the problem put in front of us and asking
questions to enhance my understanding. I also recognized that when writing group
reports I can still be just as helpful in other ways. For example, I love to write so
after solving a problem my favorite part is explaining what it is and how we
solved it. Therefore, in the Meadows or Malls report I put a lot of my time into the
explanation and felt like I was contributing and being a helpful group member.
Overall, I feel that during this project our group worked together very well and we
were able to create a report we were proud of.

2. How has your experience with COVID during this unit helped you to grow as a
student and mathematician, and how did it affect your ability to be successful in
Precalculus and in completing this project?
With last year being half online half in person for most of the year. I struggled to
feel as if I was doing something worthwhile in math. I felt like I was just doing the
bare minimum to get by. I realized without group work and teacher support I
struggled to feel confident. I really took in person math classes for granted before
Covid. So during this unit and specifically and writeup and report. I wanted to give
it my all, because I wanted a finished product that I was proud of. I believe that I
accomplished this goal. I used my time well and created a math portfolio that I am
proud of.

Group Report:
The final report my group worked on:
https://www.canva.com/design/DAE5xFwU5Ms/share/preview?token=H-dl-_Pl4z
9exMnZEfnbJw&role=EDITOR&utm_content=DAE5xFwU5Ms&utm_campaign
=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=sharebutton