document.write( "<A HREF=/cgi-bin/jump-to-question.mpl?question=1169604>Question 1169604</A>: <I><SPAN STYLE=\"word-break: break-all;\"> Cara has a piece of wire. She bent the wire into square and then bent it into an equilateral triangle. She found that the length of a side of the square is 5 cm shorter than that of the equilateral triangle.Find the length of a piece of wire.  </SPAN>\n" );
document.write( "</I><HR><TABLE width=100%><TR><TD><B><A HREF=http://www.algebra.com/>Algebra.Com's</A> Answer #794382 by </B><A HREF=/tutors/aboutme.mpl?userid=math_tutor2020><B>math_tutor2020(3816)</B></A><img src=\"/images/stars/stars-13.gif\" alt=\"\" >&nbsp;<A HREF=/tutors/aboutme.mpl?userid=math_tutor2020><IMG SRC=http://www.algebra.com/images/aboutme-small.gif BORDER=0 alt=\"About Me\" VALIGN=MIDDLE></A>&nbsp;<IMG SRC=http://www.algebra.com/images/nopicture.jpg><BR>You can <A HREF=\"/cgi-bin/embed-solution.mpl?show=1&solution=794382\">put this solution on YOUR website!</A><BR><SPAN STYLE=\"word-break: break-all;\"> <font color=black size=3><BR>\n" );
document.write( "L = length of wire in cm\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "A square has 4 sides that are all equal, so each side is L/4 cm long.\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "An equilateral triangle has all 3 sides equal, so each side is L/3 cm long.\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "We're told that \"the length of a side of the square is 5 cm shorter than that of the equilateral triangle\" so,\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "(side length of square) = (side length of triangle) - 5<BR>\n" );
document.write( "L/4 = L/3 - 5<BR>\n" );
document.write( "12*(L/4) = 12*(L/3 - 5) <BR>\n" );
document.write( "3L = 4L - 60<BR>\n" );
document.write( "3L-4L  = -60<BR>\n" );
document.write( "-L  = -60<BR>\n" );
document.write( "L = 60<BR>\n" );
document.write( "In the third step shown above, I multiplied both sides by the LCD 12 to clear out the fractions\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "The length of the wire is L = 60 cm.<BR>\n" );
document.write( "The square side length is L/4 = 60/4 = 15 cm.<BR>\n" );
document.write( "The equilateral triangle side length is L/3 = 60/3 = 20 cm.<BR>\n" );
document.write( "We see that the square's side length is 5 cm shorter compared to the triangle. This confirms our answer.\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "Answer: The wire is 60 cm long.<BR>\n" );
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