Give the step-by-step reasoning process and then the final answer. A long wire is cut into three smaller pieces in the ratio of 7:3:2. If the shortest piece is 16 cm, how long was the entire wire before it was cut?
Since the shortest part is consists of 2 parts, then each part is equal to 16 cm / 2 = 8 cm. The whole wire was cut into 7 + 3 + 2 = 12 parts. Hence, the wire was 8 cm x 12 = 96 cm long.
The final answer: 96.