Kattie P.

asked • 01/17/17

A 19​-foot piece of string is cut into two pieces so that the longer piece is 4 feet longer than twice the shorter piece. Find the lengths of both pieces.

A 19-foot piece of string is cut into two pieces so that the longer piece is 4 feet longer than twice the shorter piece. If the shorter piece is x feet long, find the lengths of both pieces.

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Tim C. answered • 01/17/17

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Let x be the shorter piece.
 
Then the longer piece is 2x + 4
 
Add these together and set equal to 19
 
x + 2x + 4 = 19
 
Can you solve for x and tell us your answer?
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Kattie P.

y=4+2x
substituting value of x in equation (2)
y=4+2(5)
y=4+10
y=14
 
This is what I came up with.
14 is the shorter piece and 19 is the longer piece?
 
 
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01/17/17

Tim C.

No, not quite. 19 can't be the longer piece because  the whole thing is 19. You just have to solve the last equation I gave you for x. That is the length of the shorter piece. Once u have the shorter piece you can easily figure out the length of the longer piece by subtracting from 19. Does that make sense?
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01/17/17

Tim C.

Sorry I misunderstood what did....It looks like u solved to get x = 5, right? That is the shorter piece...Then when u are substituting it in, u are putting it into the equation for the second piece....And u got 14.....So the shorter piece is 5 and the longer is 14
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01/17/17

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