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A carpenter used 29 ft of molding in three pieces to trim a garage door. If the long piece was 1 ft longer than twice the length of each shorter piece, then how long was each piece?

Answer 1

Kennedy Adams

Each of the shorter pieces was #7ft# and the long piece was #15ft#.

If we represent each of the shorter pieces by #x#, then the long piece can be represented as #(2x+1)#.

Since there are two short pieces, we can write an equation:

#x+x+(2x+1)=29#

Open the brackets and simplify.

#x+x+2x+1=29#

#4x+1=29#

Subtract #1# from each side.

#4x=28#

Divide both sides by #7#.

#x=7#

#:. (2x+1)=15#

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Answer 2

Eli Assouline

The shorter pieces were each 7 ft long, and the longer piece was 15 ft long.

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Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.