If 24 tapered pins can be machined from a steel rod 12ft long, how many tapered pins can be made from a steel rod 6ft long (type a whole number)

the 8 in 8,420 is in the thousands place so it's value is 8 thousand.

the 8 in 6,870 is in the hundreds place so it's value is 8 hundred.

divide 8000 by 800 to find the answer:

8000 / 800 = 10

the 8 in 8,420 is 10 times greater than the 8 in 6,870

hello from mrbilldoesmath!

answer:

(7 x + 6 y) (49 x^2 - 42 x y + 36 y^2)

discussion:

the trick is to recognize that 343 = 7^3 and 216 = 6^3 and, in general,

a^3 + b^3 =   (a + b) (a^2 - a b + b^2).

in our case

343x^3+216y^3   =   (7x)^3 + (6y)^3

so take a = 7x and b = 6y in the above equation to get the answer.

you,

mrb