Bryce tried to solve an equation step by step.
\qquad\begin{aligned} \dfrac83& =3\left(c+\dfrac53\right) \\ \dfrac83& =3c+\dfrac53& \green{\text{step } 1} \\ 1& =3c& \blue{\text{step } 2} \\ \dfrac13& =c& \purple{\text{step } 3} \end{aligned}
3
8


3
8


1
3
1




=3(c+
3
5

)
=3c+
3
5


=3c
=c


step 1
step 2
step 3

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