a board is 12 meters long and cut into 2 pieces whose lengths are 1:5.

Question

What is the length of the longer piece?

Answer 1

shorter piece --- x
longer piece ---5x
(notice x : 5x = 1 : 5)

x + 5x = 12
6x=12

x = 2
so the pieces are 2 m and 10 m

are they in ratio 1:5 ?? yes
do they add up to 12 ? yes

but, but, what about the sawcut ????

Answer 2

thanks for your help