Question

3. A carpenter cuts a piece of lumber into two

pieces. One piece is twice the length of the other.
If the longer piece is 28 inches long, how long
was the whole piece of lumber before it was cut?

Answer 1

42 inches

Explanation:

Let x represent the length of the shorter piece then...

2x=28

Divide both sides by 2

x=14

The shorter one is 14 inches long and the longer one is 28 inches long. Now, we add these two numbers to find the original length of the lumber.

14in+28in=42 inches