You have a 12 litre jug, an 8 litre jug, and a 5 litre jug. None of the jugs have any markings on them. The 12 litre jug is full, and the other two are empty.

How can you divide the 12 litres of water in such a way that two of the jugs (the 12 litre and the 8 litre jugs) have exactly 6 litres of water in them, and the third (the 5 litre jug) is empty?

Here are the amounts in each jug for the method I came up with, step by step:

 12   8   5


------------


 12   0   0


  4   8   0


  4   3   5


  9   3   0


  9   0   3


  1   8   3


  1   6   5


  6   6   0

That is the shortest solution I could find, requiring seven steps.

Posted by DJ on 2003-08-18 09:55:13