Question

A 48 inch balsa wood stick is to be cut into 2 pieces so that the longer piece is 3 times the shorter. What is the length of each piece?

Answer 1

I tried this:

Explanation:

Call the length of the shorter `x`; you get:

`3x+x=48`

so:

`4x=48`

`x=48/4=12"in"`

so, the two pieces have lengths of `12 and 36"in"`