Sustainability with Mathcad Prime—Minimizing Surface Area

Functions > Solving and Optimization > Solve Block Functions > Sustainability with Mathcad Prime—Minimizing Surface Area

You can use PTC Mathcad Prime as a calculation tool to enhance sustainability in your engineering projects.

The following example demonstrates how to calculate the minimal surface area of a packing box. By using the minimal size for the box, you produce less packing waste, and reduce your packing costs.

1. Define the dimensions of the item you want to pack.

2. The volume of the item is the product of the above dimensions.

3. Calculate the volume of a single item.

4. Define the number of items for packing.

5. Calculate the volume of the packing box.

6. Formulate an equation to calculate the surface area of the box (SA).

7. Calculate the box’s minimal surface area.

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8. Calculate the optimized dimensions for the packing box: