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| Question 1092026:  A board, 39 cm long is cut into three pieces such that the second piece is twice as long as the first and the third is 4 cm longer than the second. Find the length of the shorter piece.
 Answer by addingup(3677)
      (Show Source): 
You can put this solution on YOUR website! 3 pieces: x, y, z the second, y, is 2x or y = 2x
 the 3rd, z, is 4cm longer than y, or z = y+4
 x+y+z = 39 substituting:
 x+2x+y+4 = 39 OK, this won't work because x and y don't mix. But since we know that y = 2x, we can add 4 to this y-equivalent, like this:
 x+2x+2x+4 = 39
 Now we've got it. Add up the x:
 5x+4 = 39
 5x = 35
 x = 7
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 Check:
 x = 7
 y = 2x = 14
 z = 2x+4 = 18
 7+14+18 = 39 Correct
 
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