333 online seven practice problems question seven

Question

A 235 inch board is cut into two pieces one piece is four times the length of the other find the length of the shorter piece. How would I do this and what do you get to the answer

Answer 1

Let x = length of shorter piece

Then 4x is an algebraic representation for length of the longer piece (4 times the shorter piece).

But is the two lengths are added together we get the total length which is given as 235.

So the equation that models the situation is:

x + 4x = 235

5x= 235.

Divide by 5 to get x, and since x represents the length of the shorter piece that is the answer.

You can check your work by finding the length of the longer piece and adding it to your result. Better get an answer of 235.