A piece of wood 50" long is sawed into 2 pieces. 1 piece is 5" longer then the other Write this problem into an equation The answer given is x + (x+5) = 50 Take the board 25" and 25". Take 5" off one so we have 20" add 5" to one. Thats 20 + 25. X has to remain the same value. Thats 45". You can not add 5 with out taking away 5 from the other piece. Therefore x cannot remain the same value to equall 50. One cannot add 5 without taking away 5. What am i missing.

Answer: 2x+5 = 50

Step-by-step explanation:

Given the total length of the piece of wood is 50" long. If the wood is sawed into two pieces, let's say the length of the two wood pieces are 'x'and 'y'.

This means x + y = 50 ... (1)

If one piece is 5" longer than the other, it can be written as;

y = x+5 ... (2) (this means wood of length y is 5" longer than that of wood of length x. To write the problem as an equation, we will substitute equation 2 into 1 to have

x + y = 50

x + (x+5) = 50

2x+5 = 50 (The will be the required equation where x is the length of the shorter piece of wood)