Ok here goes. In algebra we like variables that are 1 letter so let's call Soo Ha's rope length "s", and Toshiro's length "t".
Now we translate your sentence into an equation.
Let's take one part of the sentence at a time.
The statement "Soo Ha's rope is 4 times the length of Toshiro's rope" means we write
s = 4t
Think about that for a minute. Since s is 4 times bigger than t, we must multiply t by 4 to be able to set them equal. This can be tricky because you hear the sentence and think the 4 goes with s, since s is 4 times bigger. This is a common error.
The other part of the sentence says "s is 5 feet shorter than.....t"
Again we'd write
s = t - 5
Because s is smaller than t so we must take 5 away from t to be able to set them equal.
Putting this together gives
s = 4t - 5
or "s is 5 less than 4 times t"
To solve the question we now let s in our equation equal 27 and solve for t:
27 = 4t - 5
Add 5 to both sides to get the t term by itself
32 = 4t
Now divide both sides by 4 to get t
8 = t
Or Toshiro's rope is 8 feet.
To check this and to get a good feel for our equation let's work out Soo Ha's rope length to see that we get 27.
We know its 5 feet less than 4 times Toshiro's length. 4 times Toshiro's is 4x8=32
5 less than this is
32 - 5 = 27
So it checks out!
