Mathematical Exploration

Designing a cat house

Rationale: [Includes Introduction, the rationale (Why did you choose this topic? Why is
this topic of interest to you?), aim (What do you hope your reader will learn?)]

It’s been 1 month bringing a Persian cat at my home. It makes me feel pity for him when
he roam homeless in my house. This gave me an insight to just make a cat house for him
using mathematics. I was so keen on designing my cat’s house that I made it my Math
IA. I actually wanted to apply what I’d learned in class to something that was physical
and relevant in some attempt to justify that whatever I was learning was real. At first, it
was too difficult for me to select a topic but in a random conversation with my teacher
led me to this result.
I desperately wanted a cat for me and when he was at my home, he is like my small kid
and I wanted to do whatever is possible. Designing a cat house for him and then making
it for him will give me immense happiness that I did something for my kid “Leo”.
I aimed to create a cat house with a minimal cost which has a core of integration and
optimization. My main goal in this investigation was simply applied outside on the lesson
environment. To be able to make equations and solve them so that I can produce a value
bears significance in the real world, rather than being an answer to a textbook question.
Who so ever will read this can apply mathematics calculus in real life.

Gathering data:
To gather the data I needed to produce a sketch for that I had to measure the length,
breadth and height of of my cat to approximate the volume so that I can keep it constant.
And work on its perimeter and surface area. Using a scale I measured his length, breadth
and height, for that I made him stand on the floor. After getting his exact volume I
increased it to 5𝑚3 so that there’s enough space for him to stand, sleep and sit inside the
house.
After getting the measurements, first I drew a rough sketch on a paper to finalize the
appearance of my cat house so that I can start using mathematical concepts to build up
using the minimal cost.

Investigation
Finding the area of ellipse, volume of cylinder through calculus
Area of an ellipse:
𝑚2 𝑚2
+ =1
𝑚2 𝑚2
𝑚2 𝑚 + 𝑚 𝑚
2 2 2
=1
𝑚2 𝑚2
𝑚2 𝑚2 = 𝑚2 𝑚2 − 𝑚2 𝑚2
𝑚2 𝑚2 = 𝑚2 (𝑚2 − 𝑚2 )
2
𝑚2 𝑚2 − 𝑚2
𝑚 = 2 ( )
𝑚 𝑚2
𝑚2 𝑚2 − 𝑚2
𝑚= √ ( )
𝑚2 𝑚2

(1 − 𝑚2 )
𝑚 = 𝑚√
𝑚2
𝑚
(1 − 𝑚2 )
𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 = ∫ (𝑚√ )𝑚𝑚
0 𝑚2
𝑚
(1 − 𝑚2 )
𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 𝑚𝑚 4 𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 = 4 ∫ (𝑚√ )𝑚𝑚
0 𝑚2
𝑚
𝑚𝑚𝑚 𝑚𝑚𝑚 𝑚 =
𝑚
𝑚 = 𝑚 𝑚𝑚𝑚 𝑚
𝑚𝑚
= 𝑚 𝑚𝑚𝑚 𝑚 𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 𝑚 = 0, 𝑚 = 𝑚
𝑚𝑚
𝑚
𝑚𝑚 = 𝑚 𝑚𝑚𝑚 𝑚 ⋅ 𝑚𝑚 𝑚𝑚𝑚 𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 𝑚 = 0, 𝑚 =
2
𝑚
𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 = 4 ∫02 𝑚√1 − (𝑚𝑚𝑚 𝑚)2 ⋅ 𝑚 𝑚𝑚𝑚 𝑚 ⋅ 𝑚𝑚 Equation 2

𝑚𝑚𝑚2 𝑚 + 𝑚𝑚𝑚2 𝑚 = 1
√1 − 𝑚𝑚𝑚2 𝑚 ⋅ 𝑚𝑚𝑚 𝑚
= √𝑚𝑚𝑚2 𝑚 ⋅ 𝑚𝑚𝑚 𝑚
= 𝑚𝑚𝑚2 𝑚
Subbing back into equation 2:
 𝑚
2
4∫ 𝑚𝑚 𝑚𝑚𝑚2 𝑚 ⋅ 𝑚𝑚
0

𝑚
2
= 4𝑚𝑚 ∫ 𝑚𝑚𝑚2 𝑚 ⋅ 𝑚𝑚
0
1
𝑚𝑚𝑚2 𝑚 = (1 + 𝑚𝑚𝑚 2𝑚)
2
𝑚
2 1
= 4𝑚𝑚 ∫ (1 + 𝑚𝑚𝑚 2𝑚) ⋅ 𝑚𝑚
0 2
𝑚
2
= 2𝑚𝑚 ∫ (1 + 𝑚𝑚𝑚 2𝑚) ⋅ 𝑚𝑚
𝑚
𝑚
𝑚𝑚𝑚 2𝑚 2
= 2𝑚𝑚 [𝑚 − ]
2 0
𝑚
= 2𝑚𝑚 [( + 0) − (0 + 0)]
2
𝑚
= 2𝑚𝑚 ×
2
Area of ellipse= 𝑚𝑚𝑚
After differentiating it through calculus the area of ellipse resulted to be 𝜋𝑚𝑚

Volume of cylinder:
𝑚
𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 𝑚𝑚 𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 = ∫ 𝑚 (𝑚) 𝑚𝑚
𝑚
ℎ
=∫ 𝑚𝑚2 𝑚𝑚
0
ℎ
2
= 𝑚𝑚 ∫ 𝑚𝑚
0
ℎ
2
= 𝑚𝑚 𝑚 ∫
𝑚=0
2
= 𝑚𝑚 (ℎ − 𝑚)
= 𝑚𝑚2 ℎ
Real figure’s measurement, where the volume will be constant:
For a cat’s house, volume will be constant so that I can know the exact area and
perimeter needed for a cat house. A maximum area for the cat in a minimum cost.

Starting with the process in order to reach a value of radius (r) so that all other
parameters can be calculated because height is also taken in terms of r. Also, the
ears in the cat house has a radius which has been taken in terms of r.
Cat’s measurement for calculating volume:
Length- 54 cm
Breadth- 17 cm
Height- 28 cm
Volume =54 ∗ 17 ∗ 28
= 25704 𝑚𝑚3
1 𝑚3 = 1000000 𝑚𝑚3
Volume = 0.025704 𝑚3
Making it 5 𝑚3so that it can get enough space to move around,stand, sit and sleep

According to the figure

2 2
𝑚𝑚2
= (𝑚𝑚 + 2𝑚𝑚ℎ) + (2𝑚𝑚 ) + 2( ) − (𝑚𝑚ℎ)
2
= 2𝑚𝑚ℎ + 3𝑚𝑚2 + 𝑚𝑚2 − 𝑚𝑚ℎ
5 2
𝑚 2 𝑚 5
= 2𝑚𝑚( ) + 3𝑚𝑚 + 𝑚( ) − 𝑚( )( ÷ 4)
𝑚𝑚2 12 2 𝑚𝑚2
5 2
𝑚 2 𝑚 5
= 2𝑚𝑚( ) + 3𝑚𝑚 + 𝑚( ) − 𝑚( )( )
𝑚𝑚2 12 2 4𝑚𝑚2
10𝑚𝑚 2
𝑚𝑚2 5𝑚𝑚
= + 3𝑚𝑚 + −
𝑚𝑚2 144 8𝑚𝑚2
Taking LCM for two terms
 10𝑚𝑚 + 3𝑚2 𝑚4 5𝑚𝑚 𝑚𝑚2
= − +
𝑚𝑚2 8𝑚𝑚2 144
Taking LCM for three terms
8(10𝑚𝑚 + 3𝑚2 𝑚4 ) − 5𝑚𝑚 𝑚𝑚2
= +
8𝑚𝑚2 144
Expanding the terms
80𝑚𝑚 + 24𝑚2 𝑚4 + 5𝑚𝑚 𝑚𝑚2
= +
8𝑚𝑚2 144
Simplifying the terms
24𝑚2 𝑚4 + 75𝑚𝑚 𝑚𝑚2
= +
8𝑚𝑚2 144
2 4
24𝑚 𝑚 75𝑚𝑚 𝑚𝑚2
= + +
8𝑚𝑚2 8𝑚𝑚2 144
Cancelling the common factors
2
75 𝑚𝑚2
= 3𝑚𝑚 + +
8𝑚 144
Taking LCM for all the three terms
144𝑚(3𝑚𝑚2 ) + (18 ⋅ 75) + 𝑚(𝑚𝑚2 )
=
144𝑚
432𝑚𝑚 + 1350 + 𝑚𝑚3
3
=
144𝑚
433𝑚𝑚3 +1350
Total area=
144𝑚

𝑚𝑚
Differentiating the solution as to find r
𝑚𝑚
𝑚𝑚 433𝑚𝑚3 + 1350
=
𝑚𝑚 144𝑚
Taking the constant out
1 𝑚 433𝑚𝑚3 + 1350
= ( )
144 𝑚𝑚 𝑚
Applying the quotient rule
 𝑚 3 𝑚 3
1 𝑚𝑚 (433𝑚𝑚 + 1350)𝑚 − 𝑚𝑚 (𝑚) (433𝑚𝑚 + 1350)
= ⋅
144 𝑚2
𝑚
(433𝑚𝑚3 + 1350) = 1299𝑚𝑚2
𝑚𝑚
𝑚
(𝑚) = 1
𝑚𝑚
Simplifying the like terms
1 1299𝑚𝑚2 𝑚 − 1 ⋅ (433𝑚𝑚3 + 1350)
⋅
144 𝑚2
1299𝑚𝑚2 𝑚 − 1 ⋅ (433𝑚𝑚3 + 1350) 866𝑚𝑚3 − 1350
=
𝑚2 𝑚2
1 866𝑚𝑚3 − 1350
= ⋅
144 𝑚2
1 ⋅ (866𝑚𝑚3 − 1350)
=
144𝑚2
866𝑚𝑚3 − 1350
=
144𝑚2
Taking the common terms out to simplify it
2 (433𝑚𝑚3 − 675)
=
144𝑚2
𝑚𝑚 433𝑚𝑚3 − 675
=
𝑚𝑚 72𝑚2

𝑚𝑚
Equating = 0to find out the radius
𝑚𝑚
433𝑚𝑚3 − 675
=0
72𝑚2
 433𝑚𝑚3 −675
The equation of the above curve is = 0where r is represented as x
72𝑚2
in the graph and it has given the value
𝑟 = 0.7916903195

𝑚2 𝑚
Calculating
𝑚𝑚2
𝑚𝑚 433𝑚𝑚3 − 675)
( )
𝑚𝑚 72𝑚2
Taking the constant out
1 𝑚𝑚 433𝑚𝑚3 − 675)
= ( )
72 𝑚𝑚 𝑚2
Applying the quotient rule
𝑚𝑚 3 2 𝑚𝑚 2 3
1 𝑚𝑚 (433𝑚𝑚 − 675) 𝑚 − 𝑚𝑚 (𝑚 ) (433𝑚𝑚 − 675)
= ⋅
72 (𝑚2 )2
𝑚𝑚
(433𝑚𝑚3 − 675) = 1299𝑚𝑚2
𝑚𝑚
𝑚𝑚 2
(𝑚 ) = 2𝑚
𝑚𝑚
1 1299𝑚2 𝑚2 − 2𝑚 (433𝑚𝑚3 − 675)
= ⋅
72 (𝑚2 )2
 Simplifying the equation
1 1299𝑚2 𝑚2 − 2𝑚 (433𝑚𝑚3 − 675) 433𝑚𝑚3 + 1350
⋅ =
72 (𝑚2 )2 72𝑚3
𝑚𝑚 433𝑚𝑚3 + 1350
( )
𝑚𝑚 72𝑚3
Taking the constant out
𝑚𝑚 3 2 𝑚𝑚 2 3
1 𝑚𝑚 (433𝑚𝑚 − 675)𝑚 − 𝑚𝑚 (𝑚 ) (433𝑚𝑚 − 675)
= ⋅
72 (𝑚2 )2
𝑚𝑚
(433𝑚𝑚3 − 675) = 1299𝑚𝑚2
𝑚𝑚
𝑚𝑚 2
(𝑚 ) = 2𝑚
𝑚𝑚
1 1299𝑚𝑚2 − 2𝑚 (433𝑚𝑚3 − 675)
= ⋅
72 (𝑚2 )2
Simplifying the terms
1 1299𝑚𝑚 − 2𝑚 (433𝑚𝑚3 − 675) 433𝑚𝑚3 + 1350
2
⋅ =
72 (𝑚2 )2 72𝑚3
𝑚𝑚 433𝑚𝑚3 + 1350
( )
𝑚𝑚 72𝑚3
𝑟2 𝑟 225
= −
𝑟𝑟2 4𝑟4
There’s a negative value, hence I have got a maxima
Conclusion:
Hence, I believe that I will use 0.7m as my radius and the whole structure
will be followed according to the radius’s value.
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