SOLUTION: To celebrate a diner's anniversary, the owners have made a 40-foot-long sandwich. The sandwich is cut into three unequal pieces. The longest piece is three times as long as the mid

Algebra ->  Customizable Word Problem Solvers  -> Misc -> SOLUTION: To celebrate a diner's anniversary, the owners have made a 40-foot-long sandwich. The sandwich is cut into three unequal pieces. The longest piece is three times as long as the mid      Log On

Ad: Over 600 Algebra Word Problems at edhelper.com


    

Question 704863: To celebrate a diner's anniversary, the owners have made a 40-foot-long sandwich. The sandwich is cut into three unequal pieces. The longest piece is three times as long as the middle piece, and the shortest piece is 5 feet shorter than the middle piece. What is the length of the longest piece?
Answer by nerdybill(7384) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
To celebrate a diner's anniversary, the owners have made a 40-foot-long sandwich. The sandwich is cut into three unequal pieces. The longest piece is three times as long as the middle piece, and the shortest piece is 5 feet shorter than the middle piece. What is the length of the longest piece?
Let x = length of middle piece
then
3x = length of longest piece
x-5 = length of shortest piece
.
x + 3x + x-5 = 40
5x-5 = 40
5x = 45
x = 9
.
Longest piece:
3x = 3(9) = 27 feet