document.write( "Question 10951: A piece of wooden rod 33 cm. long is to be divided into 3 parts, each of which parts is to be progressively longer than the next part by two whole centimeters unit. How long is each part? \n" ); document.write( "
Algebra.Com's Answer #5752 by kinupanda(9)\"\" \"About 
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Let us start by defining a variable for the first piece of wood we want to cut out of the whole... we will call it x. So we have a piece of wood x centimeters long.\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "We know from the question that the second piece of wood must be 2 cm longer than the first, so we can define its length with the expression x+2.\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "Similarly, the third piece must be another 2 cm longer than the second, so its length is (x+2)+2 cm, which simplifies to (x+4) centimeters.\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "Also from the question, we know that the total length of all three pieces of wood must add up to 33 cm. So we take the expressions: x + (x+2) + (x+4) = 33.\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "Now, we solve for x. Simplifying the left side of the equation yields: 3x+6 = 33. Thus, subtracting by 6 on both sides, 3x = 27; and by dividing by 3 on both sides, x = 9.\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "Now, we take our solution for x and plug it back into our expressions. Thus, the first piece of wood is x = 9 cm, the second is x+2 = 11 cm, and the third is x+4 = 13 cm.\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "To verify, we just add the lengths of the three pieces together, and sure enough, 9 + 11 + 13 adds up to 33 cm. \n" ); document.write( "
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