Question

A 54 ft piece of string is cut into three pieces. If the second pieces is three times the first piece and the third piece is two less than the second, find the length of each piece.

Answer 1

1. 8 ft
2. 24 ft
3. 22 ft

Explanation:

If the length of the first piece is represented by x, then the length of the second piece is 3x, and the length of the third piece is 3x-2. The total length is ...

x + 3x + (3x -2) = 54

7x = 56 . . . . add 2

x = 8 . . . . . . divide by 7

3x = 24 . . . . length of 2nd piece

24 -2 = 22 . . . length of 3rd piece

The first piece is 8 feet; the second piece is 24 feet; the third piece is 22 feet.