The Three Containers

          We have three containers which hold 19, 13 and 7 ounces of liquid respectively. The 19 ounce container is empty but the 13 and 7 ounces containers are full. How can we measure out 10 ounces by using only the three above mentioned containers?

Answer:  The following would be the procedure in chart form: 

	19 Ounces	13 Ounces	7 Ounces
	0	13	7
Step 1	7	13	0
Step 2	19	13	0
Step 3	12	1	7
Step 4	12	8	0
Step 5	5	8	7
Step 6	5	13	2
Step 7	18	0	2
Step 8	18	2	0
Step 9	11	2	7
Step 10	11	9	0
Step 11	4	9	7
Step 12	4	13	3
Step 13	17	0	3
Step 14	17	3	0
Step 15	10	3	7

The Old Ship

          Some years back I was travelling by a cargo ship from New Zealand to Tahiti. I was curious to look around the ship one day, and in the boiler room I asked a man how old the ship was. He smiled and replied in this way: The ship is twice as its boiler was when the ship was as old as the boiler is now. And the combined age of the ship and the boiler is thirty years.’

       Can you figure out what is the age of the ship and of the boiler?

Answer: Let’s assume that the age of the ship at present is X years and of the boiler Y years.

Then

The ship X is twice as old as its boiler (Y-X) was when the ship was (x-X) as old as the boiler is now.

X= 2 (Y-X) and (x-X) = 2 

Eliminating X gives 4Y = 3X            Also, x+Y = 30

Y (the boiler) = 90/7   years. And X (the ship)

=120 years.

Lucrative Business

             Two unemployed young men decided to start a business together. They pooled in their savings, which came to Rs. 2.000. They were both lucky, their business prospered and they were able to increase their capital by 50 per cent every three years. 

How much did they have in all at the end of eighteen years?

Answer:    They had Rs. 22781.25.

The weight of the Block

           A cement block balances evenly on the scales with three quarters of a pound and three quarters of a block.

          What is the weight of the whole block?

Answer: The whole block weights 3 lbs.