A cable 40 feet long is cut into three pieces so the length of the second piece is 4 times the length of the first piece, and the third piece is five more than twice as long as the first piece. Find the length of the pieces.

Answer 1

Let x = first piece, then the second piece = 4x and the third = 2x + 5.

These three terms should add to 40.

I'll let you do the calculations.

Answer 2

let x=x+x+x=40 then