Henry Ernest Dudeney/Puzzles and Curious Problems/302 - Delivering the Milk
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Puzzles and Curious Problems by Henry Ernest Dudeney: $302$
- Delivering the Milk
- A milkman one morning was driving to his dairy with two $10$-gallon cans full of milk,
- when he was stopped by two countrywomen, who implored him to sell them a quart of milk each.
- Mrs. Green had a jug holding exactly $5$ pints, and Mrs. Brown a jug holding exactly $4$ pints,
- but the milkman had no measure whatsoever.
- How did he manage to put an exact quart into each of the jugs?
- It was the second quart that gave all the difficulty.
- But he contrived to do it in as few as nine transactions --
- and by a "transaction" we mean the pouring from a can into a jug, or from one jug to another, or from a jug back to the can.
- How did he do it?
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Sources
- 1932: Henry Ernest Dudeney: Puzzles and Curious Problems ... (previous) ... (next): Magic Square, Measuring, Weighing, and Packing Problems: $302$. -- Delivering the Milk
- 1968: Henry Ernest Dudeney: 536 Puzzles & Curious Problems ... (previous) ... (next): Combinatorial & Topological Problems: Liquid Pouring Puzzles: $410$. Delivering the Milk