Question

Jamilla has a piece of ribbon that is 48.5 centimeters long. For her scrapbook, she cuts it into two pieces so that one piece is 4 times as long as the other. What are the lengths of the pieces?

Answer 1

shorter piece = x
longer piece = 4x

x + 4x = 48.5
5x = 48.5
x = 48.5/5
x = 9.7 cm   ←  shorter piece

longer piece = 4x = 4 * 9.7 = 38.8 cm