For their homecoming parade the students of U-Math have created a colorful banner, 53 meters in length, that is made of two pieces of parachute material. The short piece is 19 meters shorter then the long piece. Find the Length of each piece.

Question

Length of the long piece =

Length of the short piece=

Can someone help?

Answer 1

Just like in one of your previous posts

let the shorter piece be x m
then the longer piece is 53-x

"The short piece is 19 meters shorter then the long piece"
or
the difference between the longer and the shorter is 19
--->
(53-x) - x = 19
53-x-x = 19
-2x = 19-53
-2x = -34
divide both sides by -2
-2x/-2 = -34/-2
x = 17

I defined x to be the short piece ---- 17
I defined 53-x to be the longer --- 53-17 = 36

check:
is 17+36 = 53 ? yes
is 36 greater than 17 by 19 ? yes