Question

A board is 48 inches long. It must be divided into four pieces of equal length and each cut will cause a waste of 3/16 inch. How long will each piece be after the cuts?

12 inches
11 55/64 inches*
11 1/16 inches

Answer 1

correct, only 3 cuts are needed, so

4x + 3(3/16) = 48
...
x = 759/64

Answer 2

48 - 3*3/16 = 47.4375 in.
47.4375in./4 = 11.8594 in. each.