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Article: Dr Georgiou's maths challenge: can you fill a jar with water?

Dr Nicos Georgiou is a lecturer in the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the University of Sussex. Here he presents his latest TSR maths challenge. Can you crack it?

Some of the many classical puzzles involve two or three (or even more!) jars of different sizes.

The goal is simple: the solver must create an exact quantity of water in one of the jars.Here's an example: You have an infinite supply of water, a 5L jar and a 3L jar.

You can empty a jar completely anytime you like and you can pour water from one jar to the other. How will you measure exactly 1L of water?

So that's your starter for 10...but can you crack the rest of the puzzles? >>
(edited 7 years ago)
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98matt
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Original post by shooks
Dr Nicos Georgiou is a lecturer in the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the University of Sussex. Here he presents his latest TSR maths challenge. Can you crack it?

Some of the many classical puzzles involve two or three (or even more!) jars of different sizes.

The goal is simple: the solver must create an exact quantity of water in one of the jars.Here's an example: You have an infinite supply of water, a 5L jar and a 3L jar.

You can empty a jar completely anytime you like and you can pour water from one jar to the other. How will you measure exactly 1L of water?

Read more >>


Fill the 5L jar.

Pour water from 5L into 3L jar until it is full. Now 2L is left in 5L jar.

Empty the 3L jar. Pour remaining 2L from 5L jar into 3L jar.

Fill the 5L jar again. Pour into 3L jar until full. Now 5L has volume 4L and 3L jar is full.

Empty the 3L jar and refill from 5L jar, leaving exactly 1L left in the 5L jar.
Original post by 98matt
Fill the 5L jar.

Pour water from 5L into 3L jar until it is full. Now 2L is left in 5L jar.

Empty the 3L jar. Pour remaining 2L from 5L jar into 3L jar.

Fill the 5L jar again. Pour into 3L jar until full. Now 5L has volume 4L and 3L jar is full.

Empty the 3L jar and refill from 5L jar, leaving exactly 1L left in the 5L jar.


Nice work :smile: Check the main article for the rest of the puzzles...
This was a puzzle in the last level of Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, so I can't say this was fresh to me. XD
I thought he had made up a problem not copied it from very old books.
There's a quicker way to do puzzle b. Fill the 8L jar. Pour into the 9L jar so that jar is 1L short. Fill the 8L jar again and pour the missing 1L into the 9L jar. You now have 7L in your 8L jar - empty the 9L jar and pour the 7L of water in. Now refill the 8L jar, fill the missing 2L of the 9L jar and you'll have 6L in the 8L jar.

What do I win???
I swear it's exactly the same as the puzzle from the Professor Layton game series 😅🙈
This problem was actually in the film, Die Hard With A Vengeance.

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(edited 7 years ago)

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