Optimizing 500m of fence for maximum area without calculus

[Sorry!]

Hey guys this isn't exactly a homework question. I'm helping my girlfriend with her grade 12 college level math course. When i was in grade 12 i took calculus.. and she called me and asked for help with optimization. I don't think in her class they are learning about calculus so how would you go about say optimizing 500m of fence for the greatest area without using derivatives?

Derivatives is the only method i know of to do these types of problems... unless she is supposed to trial and error?

 

[Mark44]

By graphing the function that gives the area of the enclosed area. Because of the length constraint, I think you'll be getting a quadratic function whose vertex can be found without the use of calculus.

 

[Sorry!]

true enough, i never thought about it that way how dumb of me lol :P thanks mark44