Monte Swapp

April 29, 2017

E-Portfolio Assignment
Math 1210 Calculus, Spring 2017

Pipeline Project

The U.S. Interior Secretary recently approved the drilling of natural gas wells near
Vernal, Utah. The company responsible for drilling these wells has begun drilling a high-yield
natural gas well on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land and soon they will need to build a
pipeline to their refinery located approximately 41.4 miles south east of the drilling site.

While running the pipe straight to the refinery would require the least amount of pipe, the
pipe would be laid entirely on private property, which would cost an additional $100K on top of
the $248K required, per mile, for laying the pipe.

The company could run around the private property, avoiding it entirely, by heading due
west or east. The western route is by far the longest, requiring 98 miles of pipe to be laid. The
eastern route heads straight into a mountain, which would incur additional costs to the company
on top of the per mile cost of the pipeline; these costs include: a one-time cost of $4,2286,000 to
drill though the mountain, an environmental impact study costing $250,000, and a delay of 5
months to conduct the study costing the company an additional $10,000 per month. Alternatively,
the company could run their pipe straight along the shortest distance on the private property, due
south, and then turn east towards the refinery on BLM land; this would minimize the extra right-
of-way fees for crossing the private land.
 After totaling the costs of each route, we find that the shortest route clearly will be the
cheapest route, a 2.4-million-dollar savings, despite the additional right-of-way fee for crossing
private land.

But the company would like to know if a cheaper option exists. To find a cheaper route,
we must employ our mathematical skills.

We notice that the southern route and the direct route together form a right triangle.

Convince yourself that the distance d can be found using the following equation:
d= x 2+ y 2 .
The distance d will be our distance traveled over private property. Additionally, its clear
to see that y is a constant with a value of 25, thus making d= x 2+ 625 . The variable x
represents the base of our triangle, or how from the refinery we begin traveling on BLM land.
With this knowledge, we can finally derive our cost function:
C ( x )=348000 ( x 2+625 ) +248000 ( 33x ) .

With our cost function, we can see the cost as it relates to where we exit private land and
begin heading east on BLM land. Graphing the function, we can see that it contains an absolute
minimum; finding this minimum will reveal our cheapest route.
 To find this minimum, we must take the derivative of our cost function:
dc d d
=348000 ( x 2+ 625 ) +248000 (33x)
dx dx dx
1
dc 3480001 2
= ( x + 625 ) 2 ( 2 x ) 248000
dx 2

' 348000 x
C ( x) = 248000
x 2+ 625
Once we have the derivative, we must set it equal to zero to find our critical point(s).

348000 x
248000=0
x 2 +625
348000 x
=248000
x 2 +625
348000 x =248000( x +625)
2

3480002 ( x 2)=248000 2(x 2 +625)

2 2 2 2 2
348000 ( x ) =248000 x +248000 (625)

3480002 ( x 2 ) 2480002 x 2=2480002 (625)

x 2 ( 34800022480002 )=2480002 (625)

2
248000 (625)
x 2=
348000 22480002
 2
x 644.97

x 25.4
The result tells us that we should head to a point 25.4 miles east of the point on the far
side of the private land, directly south of the drill site. In other words, using the arctangent
function we can find the angle in which the company should lay their pipe from the drill site:

1 25.4
=tan
25

The resulting angle is 45.45 degrees, meaning the company should head South by 44.56
degrees East.

This mean the pipeline will run for 35.6 miles across private land finally reaching a point
on BLM 7.6 miles East of the refinery. How much have we saved?
 We have found that this route will save us an additional $119,680 over the straight-line
route; thus, we have found our most cost-effective option.

It should come as no surprise that scenarios like this play out in real life all the time.
People, in lower math courses, often wonder what application math has in the real world. As
demonstrated, math can be used to optimize a plan, or route, to find the most efficient option
possible. I am amazed by the information revealed by derivatives and integrals, information I
never even dreamed of being possible to extract from a function.

In my chosen profession, computer science, functions are a part of life. Learning how to
manipulate and extract information from functions is critical to designing and writing efficient
and reliable software. Performance in algorithms is measures in something computer scientists
refer to as Big-O Notation. For example, a novice programmer with limited mathematical
knowledge may attempt to sum the numbers from 1 to n in a loop, adding one number to the sum
repeatedly. This algorithm would result in a Big-O rating of (n), meaning the algorithm runs in
linear time; the higher n is, the longer the algorithm takes to execute. A programmer with
calculus under his belt would probably simplify his algorithm and result in a function that
calculates the sum based on:
n
n(n+1)
i= 2
i=1

This programmer has just created an algorithm with far superior performance. This
algorithm would compute the sum of 1 to n in constant time, or Big-O of 1.

Having taken this calculus course, I am confident that I too will be able to write software
that performs optimally.