Jack cut a piece of wood that was 8 feet long into two pieces. One piece is three times as long as the other. How long is the shorter piece of wood?
Let one piece be x.
Other piece is 3 times as long = 3x
The sum of both pieces would be equal to 8
x + 3x = 8
4x = 8
x = 8/4
x = 2
The shorter piece is x long.
The shorter piece is 2 feet long.