Ten Problems Puzzles and Brain Teasers » Problem Eight: Buckets of Water

Problem Eight: Buckets of Water

Sep 27th, 2006 by tony

You have a 3 gallon and a 5 gallon bucket. You need to pour 4 gallons of water into the 5 gallon bucket with precision. How do you do it?

Update: Solutions have been posted.

Posted in Mathematical | 2 Comments

on 28 Sep 2006 at 9:28 am Percy

Show ▼

Fill up the 5 gallon bucket.
Fill up the 3 gallon bucket with the 5 gallon bucket.
Empty the 3 gallon bucket.
Pour the 2 gallons remaining in the 5 gallon bucket into the 3 gallon bucket.
Fill up the 5 gallon bucket.
Pour one gallon from the 5 gallon bucket into the 3 gallon bucket, thereby filling up the 3 gallon bucket.
Empty the 3 gallon bucket.
You now have 4 gallons in the 5 gallon bucket!
on 28 Sep 2006 at 5:06 pm tony

or you can just guesstimate 4/5 of the 5 gallon bucket and pour in that much water…