brain teaser #1

@jillbeth (2705)
United States
March 1, 2007 7:20am CST
You are told to empty the bathtub and given a spoon, a teacup, and a bucket. Which do you use to empty the bathtub and why?
3 responses
@raveemenon (1071)
• India
1 Mar 07
The bucket, The cup and the spoon in that order to manually drain it out. the last drop by the spoon. brain teasers are a good tonic for toning up the brain and keep it young. They say an idle brain gets aged faster. I am a person who do not use calculator and make all calculations in mind and my friends are surprised. There is no great wonder here since if you practice daily you would be able to do that. similarly the numbers converted in to words and it is easy to imagine things and remember . there are lot many books that are worth reading. Thanks for sharing.
@jillbeth (2705)
• United States
2 Mar 07
Wrong, you'd better replace the battery in your brain calculator! :)
1 person likes this
• United States
14 Mar 07
I can barely remember my multiplication tables! take away my calculator? Unimaginable, I would be number impaired. Someone else would have to take over the budget. Numbers never were my strong suit anyway. Spelling was always my strength. I could spell anything! But since I turned 50, sometimes I have to reach for the dictionery! And sometimes I have the word right, but it just doesn't look right!
@applsofgld (2506)
• United States
1 Mar 07
Well, my first instinct would be to use the drain. But if that's not an option, then the bucket. Why? Because it wouldn't take as many trips to empty the bucket.
@jillbeth (2705)
• United States
2 Mar 07
Your first instinct is correct. I didn't say you HAD to use any of the options.
1 person likes this
• Singapore
1 Mar 07
I am assuming here that the bathtub was full (or at least already filled with water) and we need to get every drop out. I will use all three. I will start off with the bucket (assuming that it can fit inside too :P) and remove water by the bucket load. It has the biggest capacity so using it first makes most sense. There will come a time when the water level drops such that using a bucket can remove no water. Then I will switch to the smaller capacity teacup. When the teacup becomes too "big", I will switch to the spoon to remove the last few spoonfuls. And oops, I hope I don't need to lick clean the last few remaining drops. :P
2 people like this
@jillbeth (2705)
• United States
2 Mar 07
Good thinking, but wrong. Pull the plug.
1 person likes this