A boy purchased a sandwich 52 inches long he wants to cut into three pieces so that the middle piece is 5 inches longer than the shortest piece and the shortest piece is 8 inches shorter than the longest piece how long should all three pieces be
total length is 52 x+y+z=52 x+x-3+x-8=52 x+x+x-3-8=52 3x-11=52 add 11 to both sides 3x+11-11=52+11 3x=63 divide both sides by 3 x=21 y=x-3=21-3=18 z=x-8=21-8=13