Problems

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Solution:

Suppose one of the \(x\) coordinates is \(t > 0\), then the coordinates are \(y = \pm \sqrt{1-t}, x = \pm t\). The area will be \(A = 2t \cdot 2 \sqrt{1-t}\). To maximise this, \begin{align*} && \frac{\d A}{\d t} &= 4 \sqrt{1-t} - 2t(1-t)^{-\frac12} \\ &&&= \frac{4(1-t) - 2t}{\sqrt{1-t}} \\ &&&= \frac{4-6t}{\sqrt{1-t}} \end{align*} Therefore there is a stationary point at \(t = \frac23\). Since we know the area is \(0\) when \(t = 0, 1\) we can see this must be a maximum for the area. Therefore the area is \(\displaystyle 4 \frac23 \sqrt{1-\frac23} = \frac{8}{3\sqrt{3}} = \frac{8}{\sqrt{27}}\). For this similar problem, using a similar approach we find \(y = \pm (1- t)^{n/2m}, x = \pm t\) and so the area is \(A = 4 t \cdot (1-t)^{n/2m}\). \begin{align*} && \frac{\d A}{\d t} &= 4(1-t)^{n/2m} - 4t \frac{n}{2m} (1-t)^{\frac{n}{2m} - 1} \\ &&&= (1-t)^{\frac{n}{2m}-1} \left ( 4(1-t) - \frac{2n}{m} t\right) \\ &&&= (1-t)^{\frac{n}{2m}-1} \left ( 4 - (4 + \frac{2n}{m})t \right) \\ \end{align*} Therefore \(\displaystyle t = \frac{2m}{2m+n}\) and \(\displaystyle A = 4\cdot \frac{2m}{2m+n} \cdot (1 - \frac{2m}{2m+n})^{n/2m} = \frac{8m}{2m+n} \cdot \left ( \frac{n}{2m+n}\right)^{n/2m}\)