Answer:
Shorter piece is 3 ft, longer piece is 8 ft
Step-by-step explanation:
Set up two equations...
Let x be the length of the shorter piece, and let y be the length of the longer piece.
The whole board is 11 feet long, so
x + y = 11
He wants the longer piece to be 4 feet less than 4 times the length of the shorter board, so
y = 4x - 4
Substitute the second equation into the first equation....
x + 4x - 4 = 11 (y becomes 4x - 4)
Now solve for x
5x = 15 (combine like terms, add 4 to both sides)
x = 3 (divide both sides by 5)
Now substitute 3 in for x in either equation and solve for y...
y = 4(3) - 4
y = 12 - 4
y = 8
