A 17-foot piece of string is cut into two pieces so that the longer piece is 5 feet longer than twice the shorter piece. Find the lengths of both pieces. Who is the length of the shorter piece?

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Answer 1 · 2016-10-26T14:46:34

13 and 4

In order to find out the lengths of these two pieces of string, we must set up an algebraic equation.

Let's set the smaller length equal to #x#.

We know that the bigger length is equal to #5# plus twice the smaller length, #x#, so we can write this length as #2x+5#.

We also know that both of these lengths add up to 17, so we can now set up an equation:

#17 = x + 2x+5#

#12=3x#

#x=4#