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1-40 litres of milk in drum puzzle

(6 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)

March 27, 2014 by puzzler 43 Comments

There is a drum full of milk, people come for buying milk in the range of 1-40 litres. You can have only 4 cans to draw milk out of drum. tell me what should be the measurement of these four cans so that you can measure any amount of milk in the range of 1-40 litres.

Note: idea is to minimise the efforts to draw the milk, also you are allowed to take back the milk from bigger can to small can

Check your answer:-

*separate the caacity by hyphen to check, so if your answer is 1,2,3,4 check for 1-2-3-4 in increasing order

Tried enough already?
Click here to See SolutionHide
nicely explained by Saurabh Shukla

Suppose you have ‘x’ no of cans and you are able to measure up to n litres.

Now if the next can is of capacity 2*n+1 , you can now measure from (n+1)L to 2n L by subtracting the measurement of x cans from the (2*n+1). And you can also measure upto 3n+1 litres by adding (measurements of x cans + 2n+1).
So the 1st can will be of 1L then 2nd can will be of 3L(2*1+1) and we can measure upto 3*1+1(3n+1) i.e 4 (1, 3-1, 3, 3+1).

n = 4 (with 2 cans of 1 and 3)

and the 3rd should be 2*n+1 => 9 and we can measure upto 3*n+1 i.e 13L.

n = 13 (with 3 cans of 1,3 and 9 L cans)

and the 4th can should be 2*n+1 i.e 27 and we can measure upto 3*n+1 i.e. 40.

so we just need 4 cans of 1, 3, 9 and 27 L capacity.

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Comments

  1. Rock says

    August 14, 2016 at 6:27 am

    for this type of puzzles think about power of 3.
    eg-3^0,3^1….. 3^n;

    Reply
  2. Dilip lalwani says

    February 24, 2015 at 11:47 pm

    Minimum use of the measurements word is necessary otherwise so many answers are there

    Reply
  3. Ambika says

    December 25, 2014 at 4:46 pm

    1,2,2,5

    Reply
  4. sushmitha says

    October 20, 2014 at 4:16 pm

    1 2 4 8

    Reply
  5. Delisia says

    September 29, 2014 at 11:21 pm

    1,2,5,9

    Reply
    • Vivek Gupta says

      September 29, 2014 at 11:45 pm

      if u would have to use any container multiple number of times, only one container was sufficient, i.e. 1 Liter, i could be repeated any number of times.

      but if u have to use each container only once at max for a number, in this case u cant measure anything above 17 with your ans…

      Reply
  6. Shamu Shihabudeen says

    September 11, 2014 at 4:29 pm

    1 = 1

    3-1 = 2

    3 = 3

    3+1 = 4

    9-3-1 = 5

    9-3 = 6

    9-3+1 = 7

    9-1 = 8

    9 = 9

    9+1 = 10

    9+3-1 = 11

    9+3 = 12

    9+3+1 = 13

    27-9-3-1 = 14

    27-9-3 = 15

    27-9-3+1 = 16

    27-9-1 = 18

    27-9 = 18

    27-9+1 = 19

    27-9+3-1 = 20

    27-9+3 = 21

    27-9+3+1 = 22

    27-3-1 = 23

    27-3 = 24

    27-3+1 = 25

    27-1 = 26

    27 = 27

    27+1 = 28

    27+3-1 = 29

    27+3 = 30

    27+3+1 = 31

    27+9-3-1 = 32

    27+9-3 = 33

    27+9-3+1 = 34

    27+9-1 = 35

    27+9 = 36

    27+9+1 = 37

    27+9+3-1 = 38

    27+9+3 = 39

    27+9+3+1 = 40

    Reply
  7. Ajit says

    September 8, 2014 at 8:37 pm

    Similar puzzle. If you have 5 cans and total of 121 litres of milk, what should be the sizes of the cans?

    Reply
    • Vivek Gupta says

      September 29, 2014 at 11:41 pm

      its 1,3,9,27,81..

      and it is not a similar question, but the same question.. :p

      Reply
  8. rahul says

    August 27, 2014 at 7:18 pm

    what is the right answer… only one answer should be correct, but here more then one answers posted… which is right ? anyone can help ?

    Reply
  9. Vish says

    August 24, 2014 at 10:06 am

    1,2,5 & 10 litres mugs make the transaction easy.

    Reply
    • XYZ says

      September 29, 2014 at 11:24 pm

      but for a small calculation like 2litre.. u’l need 2 iterations in this case

      Reply
  10. Yola says

    July 24, 2014 at 9:48 am

    1,3,5,10

    Reply
  11. Arul says

    July 8, 2014 at 4:21 pm

    1,5,10,20

    Reply
  12. Arul says

    July 7, 2014 at 12:01 pm

    1,5,10,20

    Reply
  13. Shaina says

    July 2, 2014 at 6:52 am

    Why only 1 L container not enough to measure 1-40, rest you can pick any sizes. Am i missing something

    Reply
    • Prayesh says

      September 1, 2014 at 9:57 pm

      well, you need to draw the milk through any number of those 4 containers, but only one time each…. as what i think the question want to say….

      Reply
      • Ayushi Grover says

        June 20, 2016 at 10:25 pm

        But we arent using one each time.

        1 = 1

        3-1 = 2

        3 = 3

        3+1 = 4

        9-3-1 = 5

        9-3 = 6

        9-3+1 = 7

        9-1 = 8

        9 = 9

        9+1 = 10

        9+3-1 = 11

        9+3 = 12

        9+3+1 = 13

        27-9-3-1 = 14

        27-9-3 = 15

        27-9-3+1 = 16

        27-9-1 = 18

        27-9 = 18

        27-9+1 = 19

        27-9+3-1 = 20

        27-9+3 = 21

        27-9+3+1 = 22

        27-3-1 = 23

        27-3 = 24

        27-3+1 = 25

        27-1 = 26

        27 = 27

        27+1 = 28

        27+3-1 = 29

        27+3 = 30

        27+3+1 = 31

        27+9-3-1 = 32

        27+9-3 = 33

        27+9-3+1 = 34

        27+9-1 = 35

        27+9 = 36

        27+9+1 = 37

        27+9+3-1 = 38

        27+9+3 = 39

        27+9+3+1 = 40

        Reply
  14. Gaurav Mehta says

    July 2, 2014 at 6:01 am

    1,3,9,27

    Reply
    • Manish says

      July 4, 2014 at 8:57 am

      how is 2 litres possible?

      Reply
      • VJ says

        July 21, 2014 at 4:02 pm

        3 litres – 1 litre = 2 litres

        Reply
        • Manish says

          July 22, 2014 at 5:12 am

          the twist comes here, if we can remove milk from the can, then a can of 1 litre is sufficient..!!

          Reply
          • arc says

            December 30, 2014 at 4:09 pm

            you have to do it in 3 operations only . Eg. 27+9-3+1

      • alim says

        August 27, 2014 at 12:51 am

        Take 3 remov 2

        Reply
    • rajat says

      July 7, 2014 at 9:01 pm

      how is 7 kg possible??

      Reply
      • VJ says

        July 21, 2014 at 3:59 pm

        take 9 litres, then 1 litre and then remove 3 litres. So, 9+1-3=7.

        Reply
        • kd says

          September 1, 2014 at 11:29 pm

          u hav a can that has a capacity of 9 litres and u wanna add 1 more litre to and then remove 3 litre from…
          *u cannot take a extra can for mixing it up…as u r given only 4 cans

          Reply
          • Avinash says

            November 12, 2014 at 3:02 pm

            first remove 3 litres from those 9 litres and then add 1litre to it

  15. Sam says

    June 27, 2014 at 4:45 pm

    1,5,9,17

    Reply
    • Gaurav Mehta says

      July 2, 2014 at 6:04 am

      19 and some other no.s are nt possible

      Reply
  16. aftab says

    June 16, 2014 at 6:42 am

    1,2,4,8

    Reply
  17. Ajesh says

    April 26, 2014 at 6:01 pm

    The 4 Jars should be of 1L , 2L , 3L & 7L.

    Reply
  18. Guest says

    April 25, 2014 at 5:55 am

    only three cans 1,2,5 are sufficient.

    Reply
    • don says

      July 20, 2015 at 12:50 am

      only one can of 1litres is also sufficient

      Reply
  19. Yash01 says

    March 31, 2014 at 6:16 am

    10,5,2,1

    Reply
    • rohan says

      August 18, 2014 at 9:06 am

      I also think the same

      Reply
    • Dilip lalwani says

      February 24, 2015 at 11:43 pm

      They should add a line that what are the measurements so that you can give any liter up to 40 using minimum times measurement ,then only one answer is there 1 3 9 27

      Reply
  20. Aditya says

    March 30, 2014 at 1:32 pm

    1,3,9,27

    Reply
    • vignesh kumar says

      March 8, 2017 at 2:16 pm

      how you find

      Reply
      • Saurabh Shukla says

        June 17, 2017 at 2:09 pm

        Suppose you have ‘x’ no of cans and you are able to measure up to n litres. Now if the next can ->(x+1) th is of capacity 2*n+1 , you can now measure from (n+1)L to 2n L by subtracting the measurement of x cans from the (x+1)th can. And you can also measure upto 3n+1 litres by adding.
        So the 1st can will be of 1L then 2nd can will be of 3L and the 3rd will be of 9 but with these cans you can only measure upto 13L so you need another can of capacity 27L to be able to measure 40L

        Reply
  21. Rajender Singh says

    March 29, 2014 at 6:59 pm

    1,2,3,5

    Reply
    • Jagvir Singh says

      July 8, 2014 at 12:52 pm

      i think it is 1,2,3,5

      Reply
  22. namita says

    March 28, 2014 at 6:03 pm

    1,3,5,10 liters jar

    Reply

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