In Exercises consider a fuel distribution center located at the origin of the rectangular coordinate system (units in miles; see figures). The center supplies three factories with coordinates (4, 1), (5, 6), and (10, 3). A trunk line will run from the distribution center along the line y = mx, and feeder lines will run to the three factories. The objective is to find m such that the lengths of the feeder lines are minimized.

Minimize the sum of the absolute values of the lengths of the vertical feeder lines (see figure) given by 

Find the equation of the trunk line by this method and then determine the sum of the lengths of the feeder lines.

Transcribed Image Text:

S₂ = 4m 1| + |5m - 6| + |10m - 31. -