A piece of lumber which is 55 inches long is cut into two parts such that 2 times the larger part will be 12 more than 5 times the smaller part. How long are each of the pieces of lumber?

Answer 1

Just make symbols out of the words, sentence by sentence.

two parts: x and 55-x

We can let x be the larger piece.

2x = 12 + 5(55-x)
2x = 12 + 275 - 5x
7x = 287
x = 41

so, the pieces are 41" and 14"

check:

82 = 12 + 70

Answer 2

6 = a/4 + 2
Is the answer 16? That's what i got

Answer 3

16