Salt Lake CC

Math 1210
Pipeline Project
Fall 2015
The U.S. Interior Secretary recently approved drilling of natural gas wells near Vernal, Utah.
Your company has begun drilling and established a high-producing well on BLM ground. They
now need to build a pipeline to get the natural gas to their refinery.
While running the line directly to the refinery will be the least amount of pipe and shortest
distance, it would require running the line across private ground and paying a right-of-way fee.
There is a mountain directly east of the well that must be drilled through in order to run the
pipeline due east. Your company can build the pipeline around the private ground by going 5
mile directly west and then 15 miles south and finally 40 miles east to the refinery (see figure
below). Gost for materials, labor and fees to run the pipeline across BLM ground is ~
~.

For any pipeline run across private ground, your company incurs an additional $350,000 per
mile cost for right-of-way fees.
~

Your company has asked you to do the following:

Determine the cost of running the pipeline strictly on BLM ground with two different
cases:
i)
One running west, south and then east to the refinery.
ii)
One heading east through the mountain and then south to the refinery.
Determine the cost of running the pipeline:
i)
The shortest distance from well to refinery across the private ground
ii)
The shortest path across the private ground (directly south), then straight to the
refinery (directly east).
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Determine the op~_~J place to run the pipeline to rq!! i 'ze cost. Clearly show all work
including drawing the pipeline on the figure below. Make it very clear how you use your
knowledge of calculus to determine the optimal placement of the pipeline.
d)

Include ~
of the cost function, "C(x)" , for this pipeline for any configuration
involving crossing some private ground as well as some BLM ground. Make sure to
scale your axes appropriately and to label the minimum point.

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BLM
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15 miles

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Write up a report of your finding to submit to your company's CEO. This report should include
all steps for any math used to make determinations asked for above as well as statements as to
the costs to be incurred by each scenario. Include any appropriate figures to make each
scenario clear. Label the scenarios as they are labeled above.
Reflect on the things you have learned in your calculLs class and how they may apply to the real
world. Do you see calculus as a useful tool? What kinds of things have you learned that can be
useful in your areas of interest? Please be specific and give some examples to back up your
statements. Your reflection needs to be typed (not hand-written) and included with the

report.
Math 1210 is a Quantitative Studies General Education course. Scan or save a copy of your
finished report to upload to your SLCC e-Portfolio so that it can be found under this category.
You will NOT receive a grade for the assignment if it is not uploaded to your e-Portfolio.

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Dear CEO,
I was asked to calculate the lowest cost for the possible pathways for our pipeline from our
wells near Vernal, to the refinery. There were five possible paths.
The first two pathways are strictly on BlM land, and eliminates the cost of running any pipeline
across private land. However, the paths are longer and require more pipeline.
Al- We run the pipeline 5 miles west, 15 miles south, then 40 miles east, all on BlM
ground, with no obstacles. The cost function of this pathway would be as shown below:
C(d) = $500,OOOd, with d being distance in miles.
Since this pathway is a total of 60 miles, the equation would be as follows:
C(60)

= $500,000(60) = $30,000,000

A2- We run the pipeline 35 miles east, and 15 miles south. However, there is a
mountain in this pathway, and would cost $2,000,000, plus an environmental

study costing

$320,000, and also delay the project by four months, costing another $120,000 per month. The
cost function of this pathway would be as shown below:
C(d)

= $500,000d

+ $2,000,000 + $320,000 + 4($120,000)

There is a total of 50 miles with this pathway, so we plug in 50 to the equation:

C(50)

= $500,000(50)

+ $2,800,000

= $27,800,000

.:

The next three pathways are through private land, and drastically cuts the distance of pipeline
required. The downside is the additional cost of our pipeline running through private land.
Bl- We run the pipeline straight to our refinery through the private land. The total
distance in this pathway is "'38.079 miles, calculated through the Pythagorean Theorem as
shown below:

38.079 = d
This gives us our distance in miles and now we can plug it into our cost function for this path.
Keep in mind the total cost for running our pipeline through private land is $850,000, so this
means our cost function can be expressed as this:
C(d) = $850,OOOd
Now we plug in the miles as calculated earlier:

..

C(38.079) + $850,000(38.079) = $32,367,150

B2- In this pathway we go through the private land south 15 miles, and then east 35
miles on BLM land. The cost function would include dl in terms of private land plus d2 in terms
of our own land.

Since we are running pipeline on 15 miles of private land and 35 miles on BLM land, with dl
being miles on private land and d2 being miles on BLM land, the equation would be:
C(d) = $850,000(15) + $500,000(35) = $30,250,000

c- This last

pathway is us running pipeline southeast through private land, and then east

through BLM land. To determine the optimal place to run the pipeline with this pathway, one
needs to find the optimal cost for the function of a pipeline for any configuration

involving

crossing through private ground as well as some BLM ground. One calculates this by first using
the following information:
1. X is equal to the distance of BLM land skipped by crossing over private land diagonally.
2. Y is equal to the distance of the diagonal crossing over of private land.
3. The remainder of BLM land after crossing over private land is equal to 35-X, since the
total horizontal distance is 35 miles, and x is the horizontal BLM land skipped.
We can then use the Pythagorean Theorem to solve for Y in terms of X:
yA2 = 15A2 + XA2
(note: the 15 comes from the total vertical distance of the private land)
yA2 = 225 + XA2, therefore
Y = (225+XA2)1\(1/2)
Now we can express our cost function (private land times miles plus BLM land times miles) in
terms of just X.

Now that we have a cost function, we must optimize by using calculus methods. We will take
the derivative, and set it equal to zero. From here, we will solve for X, and plug X back into the
original cost function, and this will give us our minimal cost for this pathway.

After some algebraic strategies are applied to isolate X, we are left with:
XI\2(4.725ell)=5.625e13

We then can do some more algebra and we will be left with X = 10.9 miles.
Now we plug in 10.9 on every X for our original cost function.
C(1O.9) = $850,000(225 + (10.9)1\2)1\(1/2)

- $500,000(10.9) + $17,500,000

C(10.9) = $27,810,797.09

,/

This is the optimal cost for our fifth pathway.

Out of the five pathways, the second pathway (the one through the mountain) would be the
least costly, at a price of $27,800,000.

build our pipeline through this pathway, this project will be delayed by four months.

If you will

notice our fifth pathway again, it is only $10,000 more expensive than pathway two, and we
can start the project immediately.

However, remember that if our company decides to

I would recommend pathway five .

/'

.//

Austin Mineer

Reflection

I have learned so many things in calculus this semester. As I progressed in school

throughout

the years, I would sometimes feel as though some of the math they were teaching

us didn't really have application in the real world.

However, in calculus, I can see real-world

applications constantly, whether it be finding acceleration of an object when simply the

position is given, determining the rate of growth of a bacteria, or in this case, optimizing a cost
function by taking the derivative and finding the minimum cost. I indeed do think it is a useful
tool because it can give us all sorts of information

that wouldn't

previously have been possible

to find. One of my areas of interest is the field of medicine. An example of application of

calculus in this field is how calculus is often used in pharmacology to find the best dosage of a
drug, and also to determine the rate at which said drug dissolves. As a student preparing for
medical school, calculus 1 was the highest math class required as a prerequisite.

However,

after learning more about calculus, it makes me want to take calculus 2 and 3, because of how
interesting it is, and also the fact that it's the first math class that has challenged me
conceptually.