Apiece of ribbon is cut into two shorter pieces in the ratio 2.8: 1.25. the difference in the length of the two shorter pieces is 80.6 centimeters. what is the length of the original piece of ribbon?

The first option would be correct if it were one half and not one

First step is to get rid of the square root. remember that a square root is the same as raising to the (1/2) power. see below: multiply exponents per exponent rules to get: remember you subtract exponents from the denominator and add exponents in the numerator so: simplify further: so a is the correct choice. if you don't understand this google exponent rules and it will you understand. look at the image results.