WHY THE CREATION OF THIS DOCUMENT?

This document is written as a sample School Based Assessment (SBA) for CAPE
Pure Mathematics Unit 2 candidates by Mr. Garth Reid, Teacher of Mathematics in
Jamaica. Viewers should note that this sample is available to the public in order for
students to have a better understanding of the newly implemented SBA project in
the syllabus which will take effect in May/June 2023. You can contact Mr. G Reid
via email: garthreid53@gmail.com and his YouTube channel is
https://youtube.com/channel/UCQcbkWy-iDDu42nU2-JTOLA

NO PLAGIARISM WILL BE TOLERATED

What is Plagiarism?

This is the practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as
one’s own with or without consent, by incorporating it into your work without full
acknowledgement.

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 CAPE PURE MATHEMATICS UNIT 2

SCHOOL BASED ASSESSMENT

Name of Teacher: Mr. Garth Reid

Name of Student: John Peter Johnson

Registration Number: 1001234567

Centre: Howard Johnson Community College

Centre Number: 100123

Territory: Jamaica

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Project Title Page 4

Problem Statement Page 5

Mathematical Formulation Pages 6 – 8

The Problem Solution Pages 9 – 16

Discussion of Findings Pages 17 – 19

References Page 20

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 PROJECT TITLE

The title of this school based assessment is “An investigation to determine the
dimensions that yield a minimum surface area of open rectangular box with a
partition in the middle for packaging liqueurs and liquors”.

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 PROBLEM STATEMENT

A box is a container which can be used for storage or transporting products and
they generally have rectangular faces. There is a packaging company located in
Kingston Jamaica which is planning to transport liquors and liqueurs as a gift to a
colleague overseas and wishes to separate them in a rectangular box by using a
partition. The company already has a cover for the box but needs to find out the
dimensions that will give a minimum surface area. A part time employee, John
Johnson, who is doing CAPE Pure Mathematics at the Howard Johnson
Community College, suggested solving this problem by using partial
differentiation in multivariable calculus.

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 MATHEMATICAL FORMULATION

Appropriate Diagram

Description: The diagram above shows the design of the open rectangular
box with a partition in the middle

Descriptions of Variables and Constants

: Let this represent the length of the box

: Let this represent the width of the box

: Let this represent the height of the box

: Let this represent the surface area of the box

: Let this represent the volume of the box

: Let this represent the discriminant function

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 : Let this represent the first order partial derivative of surface area with respect to length

: Let this represent the first order partial derivative of surface area with respect to width

: Let this represent the second order partial derivative of surface area with respect to
length

: Let this represent the second order partial derivative of surface area with respect to
width

: Let this represent the second order partial derivative of surface area with respect to
length and then with respect to width

To determine the dimensions of an open rectangular box which will minimize surface area,
the following steps were followed.

Step 1: Obtain an equation representing the surface area and volume of the box using the
formulae
and respectively.

Step 2: Express in terms of , and such that the expression representing surface
area has only two independent variables.

Step 3: The first order partial derivative of surface area with respect to length is
calculated by treating width as a constant.

Step 4: The first order partial derivative of surface area with respect to width is
calculated by treating length as a constant.

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Step 5: In order to obtain the critical values, the first order partial derivatives are
equated to zero.

Step 6: To obtain the height of the box, the values of and were substituted into the
equation representing in terms of , and .

Step 7: To classify the stationary values, the second order partial derivatives were
calculated. Additionally, the discriminant function was obtained to identify
saddle points, maximum and minimum points of extrema using the following
conditions.

 If and then a minimum point exists at .

 If and then a maximum point exists. at .

 If then a saddle point exists at .

 If then this test is inconclusive at .

Where is known as the determinant of the Hessian Matrix

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 PROBLEM SOLUTION

Solving and simultaneously

Substitute into the second equation

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Either or

When ,

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Given that and :

Classification of Stationary Points Using the Discriminant Function

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12
Given that and :

When ,

Since and A minimum point exists at .

Therefore, the minimum surface area of an open rectangular box with a partition in the

middle for packaging liqueurs and liquors, must have the dimensions ,

and in centimetres.

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Application of Solution

By applying what was observed from the problem solution, after completing the
problem, the packaging company wants the volume of the box to be cubic
centimetres. This implies that the first order partial derivatives are
and . Additionally, the surface area would be .
Therefore, the dimensions which would yield a minimum surface area if the

volume is to be cm3 are , and centimetres.

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Appropriate Diagrams

The diagram above shows if

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The diagram above shows if

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 DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

In order to determine the dimensions that yield a minimum surface area of an open
rectangular box with a partition in the middle for packaging liqueurs and liquors, it
was observed that partial differentiation proved to be useful. Based on the diagram
provided in the mathematical formulation on page 6, the volume was calculated
which is such that the expression representing surface area reduces to two
independent variables after a suitable substitution. This expression was then
differentiated partially with respect to and it was also differentiated partially with
respect to by using the power rule of differentiation,
and , which were computed to be and
respectively. After obtaining the first order partial derivatives, it was then equated
to zero to find the stationary values of and and this involved solving the pair of

equations simultaneously. The solutions that were generated are ,

. Given these stationary values, the value of was then calculated to be

Now that the stationary values are calculated, the second order partial derivatives of surface
area were derived to be , and . Additionally, these second
order partial derivatives were used to form the discriminant function from the
determinant of the Hessian Matrix. In other words, the discriminant function,

. Moreover, and were found

to be positive at and which implies that there is a minimum point at . Therefore, the
minimum surface area of an open rectangular box with a partition in the middle for packaging

liqueurs and liquors, must have the dimensions , and in

centimetres.

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Recommendations

In this project, differential calculus was used to determine the dimension which
yields a minimum surface area of an open rectangular box with a partition in the
middle for packaging liqueurs and liquors. To be more specific, the method of
partial differentiation was used. This was successfully achieved however; there are
other methods which could be implemented such as a method called Lagrange
Multipliers.

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Conclusion

By using the method of partial differentiation in multivariable calculus, the dimensions which
yields a minimum surface area of an open rectangular box with a partition in the middle for

packaging liqueurs and liquors are , and in centimetres. The

discriminant function obtained from the Hessian Matrix is and

therefore, a minimum point exists at since and .

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 REFRENCES

Anonymous. (n.d.). Maximum or Minimum for functions of two variables.

Retrieved from
http://personal.maths.surrey.ac.uk/st/S.Zelik/teach/calculus/max_min_2var.pdf .

Anonymous. (n.d.). The nature of a stationary point. Retrieved from

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=web&cd=&ved=0CAMQw7AJahcKEw
j4ovLJnIr5AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAg&url=https%3A%2F%2Fnucinkis-
lab.cc.ic.ac.uk%2FHELM%2Fworkbooks%2Fworkbook_18%2F18_3_stationary_
pts.pdf&psig=AOvVaw0qzhoqAnAZ073dTVRrRGt7&ust=1658500787890073

Anonymous. (n.d.). Multivariable Calculus. Retrieved from

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=web&cd=&ved=0CAMQw7AJahcKEw
j4zoD1nYr5AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAg&url=https%3A%2F%2Fperso.liris.cnr
s.fr%2Fnicolas.pronost%2FUUCourses%2FElementaryMathsGMT%2F01%2520
Calculus%2FCalculus%25203%2FCalculus%25203.1%2520-
%2520Multivariable%2520calculus%2520-
%2520Lecture.pdf&psig=AOvVaw0fu8W3K6rhLqdkgXN7Caj2&ust=165850103
1634448 . Pages 18 – 19.

Bahall, D. (2013). Pure Mathematics Unit 2 for CAPE Examinations. Macmillan

Publishers. Pages 72 – 74.

Baisden, Kenneth, et. al. CXC Study Guide Pure Mathematics Unit 2 for CAPE. Partial
Differentiation. Oxford University Press, 2014. Pages 40 – 41.

Khan Academy. (n.d.). Second Order Partial Derivatives. Retrieved from

https://www.khanacademy.org/math/multivariable-calculus/multivariable-derivatives/partial-
derivative-and-gradient-articles/a/second-partial-derivatives .

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