a 132 inch lenght of ribbon is to be cut into 3 pieces the longest piece is to be 39 inches longer than the shortest piece and the third piece is to be half the length of the longest piece find the length of each piece of ribbon

Answer 1

let the shortest be x inches
let the longest piece be x+39
let the other piece be (1/2)(x+39)

x + x+39 + (1/2)(x+39) = 132
don't like fractions, so multiply everybody be 2

2x + 2x + 78 + x+39 = 264
5x = 147
x = 29.4 inches

shortest is 29.4 inches
longest is 68.4 inches
other is 34.2 inches

check:
29.4+68.4+34.2 = 132