A carpenter has a piece of wood that is cut into two pieces. One piece of wood is 6
inches longer than the other. Four-fifths of the length of the longer piece of wood is 28
inches.
Which equation can be used to determine the length, x
, of the shorter piece of wood?
What are your choices? What is your answer?
write down what you know. Clearly, the two pieces have lengths
x and x+6
The longer piece is obviously x+6, so you also know that
4/5 (x+6) = 28
Now you can find x.
To determine the length, x, of the shorter piece of wood, we can set up an equation based on the given information. Let's go step by step:
1. Let's assume that the length of the shorter piece of wood is x inches.
2. According to the information given, the longer piece of wood is 6 inches longer than the shorter piece. So, the length of the longer piece can be expressed as: x + 6 inches.
3. It is also mentioned that four-fifths (4/5) of the longer piece's length is 28 inches. So, we can set up the following equation:
(4/5) * (x + 6) = 28
This equation balances the given information with the condition that four-fifths of the longer piece is equal to 28 inches. Solving this equation will provide us with the length, x, of the shorter piece of wood.