SOLUTION: Arthur painted 2/5 of a fence. Boris painted 1/4 of what was left. Chester painted the last 18 feet. How long was the fence? how do I go about solving this? any help would be

Click here to see ALL problems on Percentage-and-ratio-word-problems

Question 949374: Arthur painted 2/5 of a fence. Boris painted 1/4 of what was left. Chester painted the last 18 feet. How long was the fence?

how do I go about solving this? any help would be greatly appreciated!
Found 3 solutions by josgarithmetic, addingup, lwsshak3:
Answer by josgarithmetic(39618)   (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
x, the length of the fence.

Think step-wise through the process.

of the fence remained when Arthur was don.
of the fence needs painting.

Boris did his work and this left feet of fence still needing paint.

Chester painted the last 18 feet, that last part of remaining fence after Boris did his work.

Answer by addingup(3677)   (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
How you go about it is that you follow the words.
The length of the fence is an unknown, let's call it x:
Arthur painted 2/5 of x
Boris painted 1/4 of x
Chester painted the last 18 feet.
Now the equation, just follow the problem:
2/5x + 1/4x + 18 = x Let's get rid of the fractions on the left, we need a common denominator:
5*4= 20, this is our common denominator. Multiply both sides times 20:
20(2/5x + 1/4x + 18) = 20x
8x + 5x + 360 = 20x
13x + 360 = 20x
Subtract 13x, both sides
360 = 7x Divide both sides by 7:
360/7= 7x/7
51.43= x This is the length of your fence, 51.43 feet.
Proof: 51.43(2/5) + 51.43(1/4) + 18= length of fence.
20.57 + 12.86 + 18 = 51.43 We've got the right answer

Answer by lwsshak3(11628)   (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Arthur painted 2/5 of a fence. Boris painted 1/4 of what was left. Chester painted the last 18 feet. How long was the fence?
***
let x=total length of the fence

lcd:20

9x=360
x=40
How long was the fence? 40 ft