A man runs his car out of gas thereby completely emptying his 16 gallon tank. He only has a 3, a 6, and a 11 gallon container (and fortunately a wagon to carry the containers in) in his trunk. He has nothing else in which he can carry gas. He walks a few miles to a gas station, and as luck would have it the gauge on the pump is broken so he can not use that to measure the fuel. He is in a pretty remote area with only one gas station for miles. Gas costs $3.09⁹, and he only has a $50. Using only the containers provided, and only walking once to and from the gas station, how can he get exactly 16 gallons of gas into his car?

(In reply to another legit (ish) solution by Will)

Oh, I don't know.  I do not think I would even grant legit(ish) That is assuming a 11 gallon open top container that could hold the three and the six gallon containers both. A big stretch I think. The empty three gallon container would float so you would have to weight it or hold it down some how.  Maybe, but I do not think so.  Others may disagree.  Good idea behind it.

Posted by jduval on 2007-09-29 15:55:33