the first of two films lasted 9 minutes less than twice as long as the second. the combined length of the two films plus a 5-minute break between them was 260 minutes. how long was the first film?

length of second film --- x minutes

length of first film ---- 2x-9 minutes

x + 5 + 2x-9 = 260
3x = 264
x=88

first film was 2(88)-9 or 167 minutes

check:
88 + 5 + 167 = 260

If you wanted to find the second one what would you do???

take the total minutes of the first and second movies plus the five minute break, and subtract the time of the first movie added to the five minute break. the answer is the time of the second movie.

Well, if we let X be the length of the second film in minutes, then the length of the first film would be (2X - 9). Okay, let's do some math.

The total length of the two films is X + (2X - 9), which can be simplified to 3X - 9. We also need to add the 5-minute break, so the equation becomes:

3X - 9 + 5 = 260

Simplifying further, we get:

3X - 4 = 260

Now, adding 4 on both sides:

3X = 264

Finally, dividing by 3:

X = 88

So, the second film is 88 minutes long.

Now, let's calculate the first film's length using (2X - 9):

2(88) - 9 = 176 - 9 = 167

Therefore, the first film is 167 minutes long! Voila!

To solve this problem, let's break it down step by step.

Let's represent the length of the second film as "x" minutes.

According to the information given, the first film lasted 9 minutes less than twice as long as the second film. So, we can write the length of the first film as 2x - 9.

Now, we need to find the combined length of the two films plus a 5-minute break between them, which is given to be 260 minutes. So we have the equation:

(2x - 9) + x + 5 = 260

To solve for x, we first combine like terms:

3x - 4 = 260

Next, let's isolate the variable:

3x = 264

Dividing both sides by 3, we get:

x = 88

Now that we have the length of the second film, we can substitute this value back into our equation to find the length of the first film:

2x - 9 = 2(88) - 9 = 176 - 9 = 167

Therefore, the first film was 167 minutes long.