The total width of three shortboards is 4.5 inches more than the width of two longboards. Write and solve an equation to find the width of a longboard.

Let the width of the shortboard is x and the width of the longboard is y.

Then, 3x = 4.5 + 2y.

Or, 3x - 2y = 4.5

If y = 11.25, then,

3x - 2 (11.25) = 4.5

3x - 22.5 = 4.5

3x = 4.5 + 22.5

= 27

x = 9

Hence, one of the possible solution is width of the shortboard is 9 inches and the width of the longboard is 11.25 inches.