1. A twenty foot length of wire is cut into two pieces. One piece is three times as long as the
other. How long is each piece?
Solve for a: 2(a + b + 1) = 4(1 - a - b).
Write an equation and then nd the unknown to solve: A seventy two foot length of wire
is cut into three pieces. One piece is three times as long as the shortest piece, and another
is ve times as long as the shortest piece. How long is each piece?
Solution
a)Let the length of smaller piece be x
So length of larger piece=3x
3x+x=20
4x=20
x=5 ft
So the pieces are of 5 and 15 ft respectively
b)2a+2b+2=4-4a-4b
2a+4a=4-2-4b-2b
6a=2-6b
a=(1-3b)/3
c)Let the length of smaller piece be x
So the lengths of other pieces will be 3x and 5x
So x+3x+5x=72
9x=72
x=8 ft
So the lengths of other two pieces are 24 ft and 40 ft