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Out of gas. (Posted on 2007-09-22) Difficulty: 2 of 5
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?

  Submitted by jduval    
Rating: 4.0000 (2 votes)
Solution: (Hide)
Many people offered some creative solutions. Some pretty legit, some not so. Of course that is only my opinion. Daniel and Will offered the intent of my solution. Although I would use the 3 gallon container rather than the 11. Daniel even went as far as to calculate whether or not the extra money would cover the gasoline needed to drive to the gas station.

Here was my solution: Although the man is not smart enough to keep from running out of gas in the first place, he is smart enough to realize that he does not need to get 16 gallons of gas into his car in order to start it. He simply grabs the 3 gallon container and walks to the gas station. He fills the container, at least part of the way, walks back to his car, and pours it in his tank. He then starts his car, drives to the gas station, and fills his tank until it automatically shuts off leaving exactly 16 gallons of gas in his tank.

Hoodat offers a very creative solution that I like maybe even better than my own here. I question if it is a completely legitimate solution as I doubt you will be able to just find materials to construct a balance, but I do like the creative thinking.

Comments: ( You must be logged in to post comments.)
  Subject Author Date
re(2): solution to 'Out of gas'tom reapy2008-04-22 22:02:27
Some Thoughtsre: solution to 'Out of gas'Dej Mar2008-04-22 06:12:30
Solutionsolution to 'Out of gas'tom reapy2008-04-21 22:20:03
out of gastom reapy2008-04-20 18:10:10
Solutionnot looked at any posts or solution yetAxorion2007-11-18 04:46:48
re: another legit (ish) solutionjduval2007-09-29 15:55:33
another legit (ish) solutionWill2007-09-27 11:04:01
re(3): I'm reaching herejduval2007-09-25 14:37:01
re(2): I'm reaching hereBrian Smith2007-09-25 11:11:27
re: I'm reaching herejduval2007-09-25 10:08:23
Hints/Tipsre: Labor intensive solutionjduval2007-09-25 10:02:47
I'm reaching hereGuest2007-09-24 23:19:19
Labor intensive solutionGuest2007-09-24 22:00:35
re: Solution - Legit - Wow, maybe not so legitjduval2007-09-24 21:22:18
re: Exactly 16 gallonsjduval2007-09-24 21:12:54
SolutionSolution - Legithoodat2007-09-24 00:29:44
SolutionExactly 16 gallonsLarry2007-09-24 00:03:16
re: oops - goodjduval2007-09-23 18:52:35
re(2): solution -interestingjduval2007-09-23 18:50:03
re: solution- by daniel - agreedjduval2007-09-23 18:46:55
oopsWill2007-09-23 17:31:16
another goWill2007-09-23 17:27:48
re: solutionDaniel2007-09-23 13:37:05
SolutionsolutionDaniel2007-09-23 13:31:51
re: Solution - disagreejduval2007-09-23 10:58:04
re: Alternate Solution - disagreejduval2007-09-23 10:54:38
re: Solutionjduval2007-09-23 10:51:27
Alternate SolutionGuest2007-09-22 16:25:12
SolutionGuest2007-09-22 16:17:44
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