Question

Nagaraj Nanjappa has a party-length sandwich 59in. long. He wants to cut it into three pieces so that the middle piece is 5 in. longer than the shortest piece and the shortest piece is 9in. shorter than the longest piece. How long should the three pieces be? (Help please, word problems are my weakest points :/)

Answer 1

Draw a picture and assign a variable to the smallest piece. Add the other information, 5 in longer, 9 inches shorter. When you put it all together you can solve for each piece.

Answer 2

The shortest piece: x.
The middle piece: x+ 5.
The longest piece: x + 9.
x + x + 5 + x + 9 = 59
3 x + 14 = 59
3 x = 59 - 14
3 x = 45
x = 45 : 3
x = 15
Answer:
Those three pieces should be 15 in, 20 in and 24 in long.