Question

A submarine sandwich created for a party is measured to be 63 inches long. This sandwich is cut into thirds. One of the resulting pieces is again cut into thirds. Before serving it, one of these pieces is cut in half. Of the final 6 pieces, what is the difference in length between one of the two longest pieces and one of the two smallest pieces?

Answer 1

Initial measure 63 inches

After dividing the sandwich by 3, the measure of one piece is 21 inches

After dividing one of the previous pieces of the sandwich by 3, the measure of one piece is 7 inches

After dividing one of the previous pieces of the sandwich by 2, the measure of one piece is 7/2 inches

Therefore, the longest piece measures 21 inches and the smallest piece measures 7/2. Subtracting 7/2 from 21, we have:

`\begin{gathered} (21)/(1)-(7)/(2)=(42-7)/(2)(\text{ Multiplying the denominators and cross multiplying)} \\ (35)/(2)\text{ (Subtracting)} \\ \text{The answer is 35/2} \end{gathered}`