Question

A board is 96 inches in length. It must be cut so that one piece is 24 inches shorter than the other piece. Find the length of each piece.

Answer 1

Given:

Length of a board = 96 inches

One piece is 24 inches shorter than the other piece.

To find:

The length of each piece.

Solution:

Let x be the length of larger side.

It is given that the one piece is 24 inches shorter than the other piece. So,

Length of the shorter piece =
`(x-24)` inches.

Length of the board is 96 inches. So, the sum of both pieces is equal to 96 inches.

`x+(x-24)=96`

`2x-24=96`

`2x=96+24`

`2x=120`

Divide both sides by 2.

`x=(120)/(2)`

`x=60`

Now,

`x-24=60-24`

`x-24=36`

Therefore, the length of two pieces are 60 inches and 36 inches.