please help with: An 18-foot wire is to be cut so that the

Re: please help with this problem

Hello, Cowboys!

cowboys13 said:

an 18-foot wire is to be cut so that the longer piece is 5 times longer than the shorter piece. find the length of each piece.

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The shorter side is:\(\displaystyle \L \;x\)

The longer side is:\(\displaystyle \L \;5x\)


Since both total to 18 ft:\(\displaystyle \L \;5x\,+\,x\,=\,18\)

\(\displaystyle \L \;6x\,=\,18\)

\(\displaystyle \L \;x\,=\,3\)

So fill this \(\displaystyle x\) value back in to get your lengths of the wire.