The Correct Answer and Explanation is:
The correct answer is 54.79 cm.
To find the final length of the paper, we must perform two sequential calculations based on the information provided. The problem presents a two-step process: first, combining two items, and second, removing a portion from the combined total.
The initial step involves taking two separate pieces of paper and taping them together. We are told that each of these pieces has a length of 34.85 centimeters. When these two pieces are joined end to end, their individual lengths are added together to create a new, longer piece of paper. To find this new total length, we can add the length of the first piece to the length of the second piece. The calculation is 34.85 cm plus 34.85 cm. Alternatively, since both pieces are of equal length, we can simply multiply the length of one piece by the number of pieces, which is two. So, we can calculate 34.85 cm multiplied by 2. Both methods yield the same result: a total combined length of 69.70 cm. This figure represents the length of the single strip of paper before any cuts are made.
The second step described is the act of cutting off a segment from this long strip of paper. The problem specifies that 14.91 cm is removed. To find the final length of the paper after this action, we must subtract the length of the cut piece from the total length we calculated in the first step. The operation is subtraction. We start with the total length of 69.70 cm and subtract the 14.91 cm that was cut off. Performing this calculation (69.70 minus 14.91) gives us the final length of the remaining paper. The result of this subtraction is 54.79 cm. Therefore, after completing both the taping and the cutting, the paper’s final length is 54.79 cm.
