If there is a 24 foot board cut into 2 pieces and one piece is 4 times longer than the other what are the lengths of each piece

First set up an equation as your approach. I will use the equation x+4x=24 because that way you are saying that something pluse itself times 4 equals 24 which is what you want.

simplify the equation

5x=24

x=24/5

So you know onw piece will be 24/5 of a foot and the ither qould be that times 4 so 96/24 of a foot. In decimals it would be 4.8 and 19.2