I asked this question but no one answered it. Can someone please help explain this before I have my math test today. THANKS.

A carpenter has several boards of equal length. He cuts 3/5 of each board. After cutting the boards the carpenter noticies he has enough pieces left to make up the same length as 4 origional boards. How many origional boards did he start with?
Someone told me the answer is 10 but I do not understand how they got it. I would like to know how to do the question, so can you explain the steps.
Thanks

Let the number of boards he had be x

So the number of pieces he has left over is (2/5)x

So he wants to have 4 lengths or 4x created by these (2/5)x's

(2/5)x --> 4 * (2/20)x ----> 4x * (1/10)

or

4x ÷ ((2/5)x)
= 4x * ((5/2)(1/x))
= 10

Sure! I can explain how to solve this problem for you.

Let's assume the length of each original board is "x". Since the carpenter cuts 3/5 of each board, the length of each remaining piece is (2/5)x.

Now, we are told that the total length of all the remaining pieces is equal to the length of 4 original boards. So we can set up an equation:

(2/5)x * number of remaining pieces = x * 4

To solve for the number of remaining pieces, we can cancel out the "x" on both sides of the equation:

(2/5) * number of remaining pieces = 4

Now, to isolate the number of remaining pieces, we can multiply both sides of the equation by 5/2:

number of remaining pieces = 4 * (5/2)

Simplifying the right side of the equation:

number of remaining pieces = (4/1) * (5/2) = 20/2 = 10

Therefore, the carpenter started with 10 original boards.

I hope that helps you understand how to solve this problem! Good luck with your math test!