it was first bent to a triangle of each length 16 cm.
total length = 16 + 16 + 16 = 48 cm
The wire is resghaped into a square. Therefore
perimeter of the square = 4l
perimeter = 48 cm
[tex]\begin{gathered} 48=4l \\ l=\frac{48}{4} \\ l=12\text{ cm} \end{gathered}[/tex]