Nogin, Maria It is not a coincidence! On curious patterns in calculus optimization problems. (English) Zbl 1380.97008 Far East J. Math. Educ. 16, No. 3, 319-329 (2016). Summary: In the first semester calculus course, we learn how to solve optimization problems such as maximizing the volume of a box or a can given its surface area, i.e., the amount of material, or minimizing the surface area given the desired volume. Whether you are a student or a teacher, have you ever wished you knew the answer to a problem after one glance at it, without doing long calculations? The patterns shown and explained below will enable you to do it for a few “standard” problems, but more excitingly, they will illustrate some very beautiful problem solving techniques and give insights into how different areas of mathematics are connected. Cited in 1 Document MSC: 97N60 Mathematical programming (educational aspects) 97I40 Differential calculus (educational aspects) Keywords:calculus; optimization; maximum area; maximum volume; minimize material; quadratic function PDFBibTeX XMLCite \textit{M. Nogin}, Far East J. Math. Educ. 16, No. 3, 319--329 (2016; Zbl 1380.97008) Full Text: DOI arXiv