A small resort is situated on an island off a part of the coast of
Mexico that has a perfectly straight north-south shoreline. The point
P on the shoreline that is closest to the island is exactly 3 miles
from the island. Ten miles south of P is the closest source of fresh
water to the island.
A pipeline is to be built from the island to the source of fresh water
by laying pipe underwater in a straight line from the island to a
point Q on the shoreline between P and the water source, and then
laying pipe on land along the shoreline from Q to the source. It
costs 2 times as much money to lay pipe in the water as it does on
land. How far south of P should Q be located in order to minimize the
total construction costs?
Hint: You can do this problem by assuming that it costs
one dollar per mile to lay pipe on land, and 2 dollars per mile to lay
pipe in the water. You then need to minimize the cost over the interval
[0,10] of the possible distances from P to Q.
Distance from P = miles.