Problema Solution
A 56-cm piece of tubing is cut into three pieces. the shortest piece is 16 cm shorter than the middle piece and the longest piece is 12 cm shorter than the middle sized piece. Find the lengths of the three pieces.
Answer provided by our tutors
the phrase "the longest piece is 12 cm shorter than the middle sized piece" appears to be in error and we are solving this as
"the longest piece is 12 cm longer than the middle sized piece"
otherwise, it makes no sense for the longest piece to be shorter than the middle-sized piece
let 'x' represent the length of the middle piece in cm, then 'x-16' represents the length of the shortest piece and 'x+12' represents the length of the longest piece
56 = x + (x-16) + (x+12)
56 = 3x - 4
3x = 60
x = 60/3 = 20
20-16 = 4
20+12 = 32
the length of the pieces is 4 cm, 20 cm, and 32 cm