The Three Jugs Problem

Two friends who have an eight-quart jug of water wish to share it evenly. They also have two empty jars, one holding five quarts, the other three. How can they each measure exactly 4 quarts of water?

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This applet requires Sun's Java VM 2 which your browser may perceive as a popup. Which it is not. If you want to see the applet work, visit Sun's website at http://www.java.com/en/download/index.jsp, download and install Java VM and enjoy the applet.

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To pour water, first click on the "from" jug and then on the "to" jug. You can specify capacities of jugs by first checking the Capacity button. Subsequently click on the numbers below the glasses. Similarly, you may specify the initial quantities of water in each jug by first checking the Water button. (To increase a number click a little to the right of its vertical center line; to decrease it, click on the left.) A glass need not be full, but when pouring water there are two possibilities. Either the "to" glass becomes full, or the "from" glass becomes empty. To return to the puzzle check the Play button.

You can always take a move Back, or even Reset the puzzle to its starting point.

• The Three Jugs Problem. Introduction and a story
• 3 Glasses Puzzle
• Water puzzle, experimental math
• Three Glass Puzzle (Graph Theoretical Approach)
• The puzzle in barycentric coordinates
• Two Pails Puzzle
• Plain Gadgets
  • The Three Jugs Problem. An Interactive Gizmo
  • The Three Jugs Problem. Barycentric/trilinear coordinates
  • The 2 Pails Puzzle. An Interactive Gizmo
• 3 Jugs Problem - A Water Doubling Variant
  • Many Jugs to One I
  • Many Jugs to One II
  • Three Jugs - Equal Amounts

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