Question

a 42 inch string is to be cut so that one piece is 7 inches longer than the other. what is the length of the shorter piece?

Answer 1

17.5 inches

Explanation:

Let the length of the shorter piece be x

Shorter piece + Longer piece = Whole string

x + (x + 7) = 42

x + x + 7 = 42

Both sides minus 7 to remove the 7 from the left side of the equation.

2x + 7 - 7 = 42 - 7

2x = 35

x = 17.5 inches

Hope this helped! ^^