<h3>
Answer: 40 inches</h3>
==========================================================
Explanation:
- x = first piece
- 2x = second piece, since its twice as long as the first
- 5x = third piece, since its five time as long as the first
x is some positive real number, and the units of each are in inches.
Add up the smaller pieces and we should get 64 inches back again
x+2x+5x = 64
8x = 64
x = 64/8
x = 8
The first piece is 8 inches long.
2x = 2*8 = 16 is the length of the second piece (in inches)
The third piece is 40 inches because 5x = 5*8 = 40
--------
Summary:
first = 8 inches
second = 16 inches
third = 40 inches
Check: 8+16+40 = 64, which confirms the answer
