STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

You are on a camping trip and your camp site is 300 feet from the river. You parked your car 1200 feet down the river from the campsite and 600 feet from the river bank. As you break camp, you need to get a bucket from the car and water from the river to put out the campfire.

1. What path would give you the shortest distance as you walk from the car to the river and then from the river to the campfire?

2. Assume that you can walk at 3 feet per second from the car to the river but you slow down to 1.5 feet per second when you are walking with a bucket full of water. Find the path you would take to minimize your time. Is it the same path that minimizes your distance?