Re: Are libraries dying?

On 2010-09-12 22:11:09 -0700, "Robert A. Woodward" <robertaw@xxxxxxxxxxx> said:

In article <i6j4j8$4qq$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Kurt Busiek <kurt@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On 2010-09-12 07:10:20 -0700, dbd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (David DeLaney) said:

Doug Wickström <nimshubur@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
dbd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (David DeLaney) wrote:
Quadibloc <jsavard@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
mstem...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Michael Stemper) wrote:
That's right. All that are left are three-gallon buckets and
eight-gallon
buckets. Your task is to describe how to measure eleven quarts of
gasoline.

You fill one eight-gallon bucket and one three-gallon bucket.

Oh, sorry, that gives you eleven _gallons_ of gasoline. Since the
sizes of the buckets are all multiples of one gallon, and eleven
quarts of gasoline is not a multiple of a gallon, the proposed task is
provably impossible.

Hm. We can get half-gallons fairly easily, but I don't see an immediate
way
to get quarter-gallons, or "quarts" in the vernacular.

Get your half-gallon and split it evenly between two buckets. Presto.
You now have quarts.

You are assuming that you have at least pairs of 3 gallon buckets
with exactly the same height and the same top and bottom diameters
(and the same for 8 gallon buckets).

There are enough silly-ass restrictions on this "problem" without imagining more. The parameters offered don't include all-different bucket shapes.

I mean, the problem also assumes that you have a way to open the underground tanks, and have a tube to siphon gas through; it doesn't say for sure.

But if they do, rig a scale, balance them by weight, not eye.

kdb
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Relevant Pages

  • Re: Are libraries dying?
    ... eight-gallon buckets. ... Oh, sorry, that gives you eleven _gallons_ of gasoline. ... eleven quarts of gasoline is not a multiple of a gallon, ...
    (rec.arts.sf.written)
  • Re: Are libraries dying?
    ... Your task is to describe how to measure eleven quarts of gasoline. ... sizes of the buckets are all multiples of one gallon, ... quarts of gasoline is not a multiple of a gallon, ...
    (rec.arts.sf.written)
  • Re: Are libraries dying?
    ... Your task is to describe how to measure eleven quarts of gasoline. ... sizes of the buckets are all multiples of one gallon, ... quarts of gasoline is not a multiple of a gallon, ...
    (rec.arts.sf.written)
  • Re: Are libraries dying?
    ... Oh, sorry, that gives you eleven _gallons_ of gasoline. ... sizes of the buckets are all multiples of one gallon, ... quarts of gasoline is not a multiple of a gallon, ...
    (rec.arts.sf.written)
  • Re: Are libraries dying?
    ... Your task is to describe how to measure eleven quarts of gasoline. ... sizes of the buckets are all multiples of one gallon, ... quarts of gasoline is not a multiple of a gallon, ...
    (rec.arts.sf.written)