A chain is broken into three pieces of equal lengths containing 3 link...
Problem Analysis:
In this problem, we are given a chain consisting of three equal-length pieces, each containing 3 links. We need to join these three pieces into a single continuous chain. To do this, we need to calculate the number of links that need to be opened.
Solution:
To solve this problem, we can follow these steps:
Step 1: Calculate the total number of links in the original chain.
Given that each piece contains 3 links and there are 3 pieces, the total number of links in the original chain is: 3 links/piece * 3 pieces = 9 links.
Step 2: Calculate the number of links needed to join the pieces into a single chain.
To join the three pieces into a single chain, we need to connect the end links of each piece. Since there are 3 pieces, we need to make 2 connections. Each connection requires opening one link. Therefore, the number of links that need to be opened is 2.
Step 3: Verify the solution.
To verify the solution, we can calculate the total number of links in the final chain. Since we need to open 2 links to make the connections, the total number of links in the final chain should be 9 - 2 = 7 links.
Conclusion:
In this problem, we calculated that 2 links need to be opened to join the three equal-length pieces of the chain into a single continuous chain.