A 24-ft pipe must be cut into three pieces. The longest piece will be twice as long as the shirtest piece; and the medium-sized piece will be 4 feet longer than the shortest piece. Find the lenght of each piece of pipe.

Question

Mathematics

Marianna Jarvis

6 May, 12:17

A 24-ft pipe must be cut into three pieces. The longest piece will be twice as long as the shirtest piece; and the medium-sized piece will be 4 feet longer than the shortest piece. Find the lenght of each piece of pipe.

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Answers (1)

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Harley Cowan · Answer 1

Writing the length, in feet, of the shortest piece as a variable x, we know that the longest piece is two times the shortest piece, or 2x. Next, we know that the middle sized piece is four feet longer than the shortest piece, or x+4. Therefore, as all the pieces add up to 24 feet, we have x+2x+x+4=4x+4=24. Using the Subtraction Property of Equality and subtracting 4 from both sides, we get 4x=20. Using the Division Property of Equality next, we can divide both sides by 4 to get x=5, making the shortest side, or x, equal to 5

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