For approximately 15 years, a Midwestern state has stored salt used on roads in the winter in circular domes. Figure 1 shows how salt has been stored in the past. The salt is brought into and removed from the domes by driving front-end loaders up ramps of salt leading into the domes. The salt is piled 25 to 30 ft high, using the buckets on the front-end loaders.
Recently, a panel determined that this practice is unsafe. If the front-end loader gets too close to the edge of the salt pile, the salt might shift, and the loader could be thrown against the retaining walls that reinforce the dome. The panel recommended that if the salt is to be piled with the use of the loaders, then the piles should be restricted to a matimum height of 15 ft.
Construct a mathematical model for this situation and find a recommended maximum height for salt in the domes.
The owner of a paved, 100' by 200' , corner parking lot in a New England town hires you to design the layout, that is, to design how the ``lines are to be painted. You realize that squeezing as many cars into the lot as possible leads to right-angle parking with the cars aligned side by side. However, inexperienced drivers have difficulty parking their cars this way, which can give rise to expensive insurance claims. To reduce the likelihood of damage to parked vehicles, the owner might then have to hire expert drivers for ``valet parking.
On the other hand, most drivers seem to have little difficulty in parking in one attempt if there is a large enough ``turning radius'' from the access lane. Of course, the wider the access lane, the fewer cars can be accommodated in the lot, leading to less revenue for the parking lot owner.