Oxford University Admissions Interview Question: What is the optimal size for a tin of cat food?

University of Oxford Mathematician Dr Tom Crawford explains how to solve an optimisation problem used as a maths undergraduate admissions interview question.

"For a cylinder of fixed volume V=1, what aspect ratio between the radius and height gives the smallest surface area?"

This question was used by Tom for the Oxford admissions interviews in 2018.

Check your working using the Maple Calculator App – available for free on Google Play and the App Store.

Android: play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.maplesof…

Apple: apps.apple.com/us/app/maple-companion/id1466659419

Try another Oxford admissions interview question from 2021 here:    • Oxford University Admissions Question - Ca...  

And the solution is explained here:    • Oxford University Admissions Interview Que...  

Other videos in the Oxford Calculus series can be found here:    • Oxford Calculus  

Finding critical points for functions of several variables:    • Oxford Calculus: Finding Critical Points f...  

Classifying critical points using the method of the discriminant:    • Oxford Calculus: Classifying 2D Critical P...  

Partial differentiation explained:    • Oxford Calculus: Partial Differentiation E...  

Second order linear differential equations:    • Oxford Mathematics Open Day 2021: Differen...  

Integrating factors explained:    • Oxford Calculus: Integrating Factors Expla...  

Solving simple PDEs:    • Oxford Calculus: Solving Simple PDEs  

Jacobians explained:    • Oxford Calculus: Jacobians Explained  

Separation of variables integration technique explained:    • Oxford Calculus: Separation of Variables I...  

Solving homogeneous first order differential equations:    • Oxford Calculus: Solving Homogeneous First...  

M.I.T. Integration Bee Question:    • M.I.T. Integration Bee Question  

Find out more about the Maple Calculator App and Maple Learn on the Maplesoft YouTube channel:    / @maplesoft  

Produced by Dr Tom Crawford at the University of Oxford. Tom is an Early-Career Teaching and Outreach Fellow at St Edmund Hall: www.seh.ox.ac.uk/people/tom-crawford

For more maths content check out Tom's website tomrocksmaths.com/

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