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The total length of the coastlines of Canada, the United States, and Mexico is about 270 000 km.
The Canadian coastline is 16 times the average length of the coastlines of the U.S. and Mexico.
The U.S. coastline is 10 000 km longer than the Mexican coastline.
Find the length of the coastline of each country, in kilometres.
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When I read this post, honestly, I do not understand, what these words precisely mean
The Canadian coastline is 16 times the average length of the coastlines of the U.S. and Mexico.
They may mean Canadian =
or they may mean Canadian = 16*(US+Mexican).
Of these two possible interpretations, I used second one.
x = that of the Mexican coastline
(x+10000) = that of the US coastline
16(x+(x+10000)) = that of the Canada coastline
Total equation
x + (x+10000) + 16(x+(x+10000)) = 270000 kilometers.
Simplify and find x
34x = 270000 - 10000 - 160000 = 100000
x = 100000/34 = 2941.2 km for the Mexican coastline.
Next calculate (2941.2+10000) for the US coastline and 16(2941.2 + (2941.2+10000)) for the Canada coastline.
That's all.
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To say "16 times the average length of the coastlines of the U.S. and Mexico"
it is very curved way to express simple statement
"8 times the length of the coastlines of the U.S. and Mexico".
No one professional Math writer would write it as it is made in the post,
since otherwise all the people around will laugh on it.