A piece of wire, 536 cm long is cut into two parts such that the longer part is 3 times as long as the shorter part. What are the lengths, in cm, of the two parts?

267 cm and 89 cm.

Step-by-step explanation:

The largest part is  3/(3 + 1) = 3/4 of 356 and the smallest 1/4 of 356.

the difference of two squares is a special form that has a factorization worth memorizing.

a² - b² = (a - b)(a + b)

your equation can be factored as

x² - 16 = 0

(x - 4)(x + 4) = 0

the zero product rule tells you the solutions are the values of x that make these factors zero: x=4, x=-4.