Problema Solution
A 8--inch pipe must be cut into three pieces. The longest piece will be twice as long as the shortest piece, and the medium-sized piece will be 4 inches longer than the shortest piece. Find the length of shortest piece of pipe.
Answer provided by our tutors
let 'x' represent the shortest piece of pipe, then '2x' represents and longest piece and 'x+4' represents the medium-sized piece
the sum of all the pieces is 8 inches:
8 = x + 2x + (x+4)
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x=1
Based on the original problem description, the shortest piece of pipe would be 1 inch. This, of course, indicates an error in the problem statement because adding "4 inches" to an 8inch piece makes it longer than the "longest piece"
...So "8--inch pipe" is an error and the correct value must be substituted... for example, if "810" was intended as the length of the uncut pipe, then the equation becomes:
810 = x + 2x + (x+4)
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possible solution for shortest piece
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x=201.5
...not an integer solution, so probably another incorrect answer