Miguel glues a ribbon border around the edges of a 5 - inch by 8 - inch picture to create a frame. what is the total length of ribbon miguel uses ?

26 inches. Technically, since this is a perimeter problem, you need to add each length to itself and then the others. If this is confusing, you essentially need to do 5+5+8+8=26 because you have two of the fives and two eights. Perimeter is much easier than area, I promise you that