Question

Patrick is building a sandbox he begins with one piece of wood. He cuts 3 feet off the piece of wood then he cuts the remaining length of wood into four equal parts if each part is 5 feet long what was the original length of the piece of wood

Answer 1

Answer: the original length of the piece of wood is 23 feet

Explanation:

Let x represent the original length of the piece of wood.

He cuts 3 feet off the piece of wood. This means that the remaining length of wood would be

(x - 3) feet

he cuts the remaining length of wood into four equal parts. if each part is 5 feet long, it means that

(x - 3)/4 = 5

Cross multiplying by 4, it becomes

x - 3 = 4 × 5

x - 3 = 20

x = 23