A wire 17 cm long is cut into two pieces The longer piece is

A wire 17 cm long is cut into two pieces. The longer piece is 3 cm longer than the shorter piece.

Find the length of the shorter piece of wire

Let the length of shorter piece be x cm
Then length of longer piece = x+3 cm
Total length = x + x + 3 = 2x+3 cm

Total length also equals 17 cm
2x+3 = 17
x = 7 cm