Astring is cut in half. one of the halves is thrown away. one fifth of the remaining half is cut away and the piece left is 8 feet long. how long was the string initially? justify your answer

The string was initially 20 feet long. Four fifths of one half of the string is 8 feet long, so half of the string is 10 feet long. Double 10 and you get 20. Therefore, the string was 20 feet long to begin with.

The answer is 26 to 1