This collection of maplets is designed to give students taking Calculus 1 an intuitive understanding of three classic optimization problems: 1. Given a parabola with real roots, find the rectangle between the parabola and the x-axis that has maximal area. 2. Given a function f(x) and a point P, find the point on the graph of f(x) closest to P. 3. Given a right triangle of fixed hypotenuse, find the cone of maximal volume formed by sweeping the triangle in a circle about its vertical side. In each maplet, the student enters the givens of the problem into a text area. He or she can then experiment with the values of the decision variables, trying to get closer to the optimum by trial and error. He or she can then click a button telling the maplet to show the optimal solution.