You have 2 buckets, one is 3 litres, the other is 5 litres volume. How do you get exactly 4 litres of water?

Question

Assuming that you have an unlimited supply of water.

Answer 1

empty half of both buckets then pour into the 5 litre one = 4 litres

Answer 2

I will give you three possible answers, depending on the rest of the set up of the question:

Solution 1: Simply fill the 5 L bucket to the 4 L mark.

Solution 2: If the containers have no graduation on them, this is the most common solution:

Step 1: Fill 3 L
Step 2: Pour 3 L into 5 L.
Step 3: Refill 3 L.
Step 4: Fill 5 L, leaving 1 L still in 3 L container.
Step 5: Dump 5 L.
Step 6: Transfer the 1 L in the 3 L bucket to the 5 L.
Step 7: Fill 3 L

There are many other solutions depending on the initial set up of the problem. These are the most common solutions.

Answer 3

fill the 3 litres and pour it into the 5 . fil the 3 again pour that into the 5 and you should have 1 litre left, empty the 5 litre, pour the 1 liter into the 5 and fill up the 3 and pour that into the 5 and you have 4 litres

Answer 4

Fill the 5 L bucket.

Pour it into the 3 L bucket until the 3 L bucket is full. You now have 2 L of water in the 5 L bucket.

Store that 2 L of water (which may be difficult if you don't have another storage device, but if you don't have another storage device, why would you need exactly 4 L of water?).

Repeat the process (fill 5 L, drain 3 L by pouring into other bucket, store remaining 2 L) - You now have exactly 4 L of water.

Answer 5

{Note: I used gallons, just substitute liters/litres for gallons!}

Fill the 5 gallon bucket, then pour off 3 gallons using the 3 gallon bucket to measure the 3 gallons.

That leaves 2 gallons in the 5 gal. bucket. Pour those 2 gallons into the 3 gal. bucket.

Fill the 5 gallon bucket again. Pour off one gallon into the 3 gallon bucket - which fills up the 3 gal bucket (2+1= 3). You now have 4 gallons left in the 5 gal. bucket!

Answer 6

fill the 3 ltr bucket, then tip into the 5 ltr bucket, refill 3 ltr bucket and fill the 5 ltr from the 3 ltr until the 5 ltr is full, this leaving 1 ltr in the 3 ltr bucket, empty the 5 ltr bucket, and put the 1 ltr remaining into the 5 ltr bucket, then refill the 3 ltr bucket and tip into the 5 ltr bucket, you now have 4 ltrs in the 5 ltr bucket

Answer 7

this was in die hard ,and im either too pissed or genuinely cant remember how it works, ive remembered, here goes
You fill up the 3 and tip these three into the 5. Then you fill up the 3 and use this to fill up the 5. This leaves you with one in the 3 and five in the 5. Then you empty the 5 and tip the one from the 3 over, then fill up the 3. Then you've got three in the 3 and one in the 5. After you've tipped over the three this will leave you with four in the 5.

Answer 8

fill the 3 litre one twice and pour into the 5 litre one what is left is one litre.....empty the 5 litre one and pour in the one litre and then fill the 3 litre and add to to the 5 litre one.....viola...4 litres

Answer 9

I'll loan you my 4 litre bucket

Answer 10

measure out 10 litres (2x5 litres) and take out 6 litres (2x3 litres)