SOLUTION: 17 foot piece of string cut into 2 pieces so that the longer piece is 5 feet longer than twice the shorter piece. if the shorter piece is x long, find the length of both pieces

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Question 675149: 17 foot piece of string cut into 2 pieces so that the longer piece is 5 feet longer than twice the shorter piece. if the shorter piece is x long, find the length of both pieces
Found 2 solutions by rm29924, MathTherapy:
Answer by rm29924(97) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
let x = the shorter piece
the longer piece is 5 ft longer than the shorter piece so
x+5 = the longer piece
both pieces together = 17 ft
so our equation is x+x+5=17
combine like terms
2x+5=17
subtract 5 from both sides
2x=12
divide both sides by 2 to get x by itself
x=6
to find the longer piece it was x+5 so 6+5
answer: the shorter piece is 6 ft long and the longer piece is 11 ft long
we can check our answer by adding the two pieces together and we should get 17ft
6+11=17
17=17

Answer by MathTherapy(10552) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!

17 foot piece of string cut into 2 pieces so that the longer piece is 5 feet longer than twice the shorter piece. if the shorter piece is x long, find the length of both pieces

Let the length of the shorter piece be S

Then length of longer piece = 2S + 5

We now have: S + 2S + 5 = 17

3S + 5 = 17

3S = 12

S, or shorter piece = 12%2F3, or highlight_green%284%29 feet

Longer piece = 17 - 4, or highlight_green%2813%29

You should be able to do the check!!

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