Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2016/ib/paper-1/4c/b/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ib Paper 1 4C b Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Completing the square in the optimization constraint givesThe left side is nonnegative, so every feasible point has . Equality is feasible precisely when and . Thus the global minimum isThere is no maximum: for every , the values satisfy the optimization constraint, allowing to be arbitrarily large. This direct argument also establishes that the two stationary points are the only local minima on the two branches of the constraint curve.
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