Question

Greg has a piece of rope 18 ft long. He wants to cut it into two pieces so that the longer piece is 2 ft less than 3 times the length of the shorter piece.

How long will each piece of rope be?

Enter your answers in the boxes.

Shorter piece:
ft

Longer piece:
ft

Answer 1

Shorter = 4ft.

Longer = 10ft.

Explanation:

Shorter = x

Longer = 3x - 2

Piece of rope = 18

(3x - 2) + x = 18

4x - 2 = 18

4x = 16

x = 4 (shorter piece)

Longer piece

3x - 2

3(4) - 2

12 - 2 = 10