Warren is building shelves for his 3-D printed model collection. He has a piece of wood that is 4.5 feet long. After cutting five equal pieces of wood from it, he has 0.7 feet of wood left over.

Question

Part A: Write an equation that could be used to determine the length of each of the five pieces of wood he cut. (1 point)

Part B: Explain how you know the equation from Part A is correct. (1 point)

Part C: Solve the equation from Part A. Show every step of your work. (2 points)

Answer 1

Part A: Let x be the length of each piece of wood he cut. The equation to determine the length of each piece of wood can be written as:

5x + 0.7 = 4.5

Part B: The equation is correct because it takes into account that Warren cut five equal pieces of wood, and the total length of those five pieces plus the leftover wood should equal the initial length of 4.5 feet.

Part C: To solve the equation, we can follow these steps:

5x + 0.7 = 4.5

Subtract 0.7 from both sides:

5x = 4.5 - 0.7

5x = 3.8

Divide both sides by 5:

x = 3.8 / 5

x = 0.76

Therefore, each piece of wood Warren cut is 0.76 feet long.