Luis and the other hikers are trying to divide up all of the things that they need for
their trip. the group wants the division of items to be equitable so that each
person carries the same amount. if there are eight hikers, how can they figure this
out? the group isn't sure how many items will need to be carried.

Best answer that i found on yahoo ok   set :   x= length of 2nd piece in cm  x- 3= length of 1st piece in cm  x-4= length of 3rd piece in cm  then since you know they all came from the 20 cm ribbon you add them together and set them equal to 20x+ x-3 +x-4 = 20  3x - 7= 20  3x= 27  x= 9  the shortest piece is the third piece which is x- 4  x-4  9-4 = 5  the length of the smallest piece is 5 cm.  the other lengths are  9 cm  6 cm