The Baker family and the Martin family each used their sprinklers last summer. The water output rate for the Baker family's sprinkler was 40L per hour. The water output rate for the Martin family's sprinkler was 35L per hour. The families used their sprinklers for a combined total of 60 hours, resulting in a total water output of 2200L. How long was each sprinkler used?

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