SOLUTION: Jane went fishing and caught a whopper of a fish! The head of her fish was ten inches long. The length of the fish's tail was equal to the length of the head plus half the length o

Question 240691: Jane went fishing and caught a whopper of a fish! The head of her fish was ten inches long. The length of the fish's tail was equal to the length of the head plus half the length of the body. The body was as long as the head and tail together. What is the total length of her fish?

Answer by rapaljer(4671) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Let x = length of the body, since that is at the end of the sentence.
Now, the tail = length of the head plus half the length of the body.
tail = 10 + 1/2*x

The equation is that the body = head + tail
x= 10 + 10+ 1/2x

Subtract 1/2x from each side:
1/2x= 20

Multiply both sides by 2:
x=40 inches = Body
Tail = 10 + 1/2x
Tail = 10 + 20 = 30 inches

Total fish = Head + Body + Tail
Total fish = 10+40+30 = 80 inches! (BIG FISH!!)

Check:
Body = Head + Tail
40=10+30

It checks!!

Dr. Robert J. Rapalje, Retired
Seminole State College of Florida
Altamonte Springs Campus

RELATED QUESTIONS
Jose, Paul, and Dan went fishing. it was a good day, and all three of them caught a fish. (answered by mananth)

Jimmy caught a big fish, its head was 5 inches long. The tail was as long as the head... (answered by Nate,edjones)

As the gilr walked on she met another man thats a good sized fish. How long is it. Well... (answered by lwsshak3)

The head of a fish is 9 inches long. The body length of the fish between the head and the (answered by KMST)

On a fishing trip, Mariko caught twenty-four fish. She caught some rockfish averaging 2.5 (answered by feliz1965)

Ned and Peg went fishing. Ned caught three less than twice the number of fish that Peg... (answered by ly12603)

When Mr. Kim returned from his fishing trip, his students inquired as to the length of... (answered by richwmiller)

A, B, C and D went fishing. A caught 50% more fish than B. If A gives C 20 fish, A, B and (answered by Theo)

A fish is 75 cm long.The head is as long as the tail.If the head were twice as long and... (answered by stanbon)