If you would like to know the length of the first piece Lia cut from the strip, you can calculate this using the following steps:
36 inches - x - 6 1/2 inches = 7 3/4 inches
36 - x - 13/2 = 31/4
36 - 13/2 - 31/4 = x
x = 144/4 - 26/4 - 31/4
x = 87/4
x = 21 3/4 inches long
The correct result would be 21 3/4 inches long.