Story problem

Question

A carpenter has several boards of equa lengt. He cuts 3/5 off each board. After cutting the boards, the carpenter notices that he has enough pieces to make up the same length as 4 of the original boards. How many boards did he start with? 

Answer 1

b represents the number of boards

L represents the length of each board

(2/5)L represents the length of each piece

b(2/5)L = 4L

b(2/5) = 4

b = 4(5/2)

b = 10