Answer:
The shorter piece is 52 inches
Explanation:
Since we don't know what the shorter length is for now we will just call it x. So x+ the second piece is equal to 156 inches. The second piece is two times larger than the smaller piece (x) which means the larger piece has to be equal to 2x. Using this we can set up an equation x+2x=156 inches. x+2x is equal to 3x, so in order to get x by itself we need to divide both sides by 3 so x is equal to 52.
x+2x=156
3x=156
3x÷3= 156÷3
x=52