When the popcorn vendor of a circus went on vacation, Charlie the Chimp saw it as the perfect opportunity to start a new act, so he volunteered to man the stand. Everything was going great until the very end of the day, when a set of twins showed up. There was just 1 large box of popcorn left to sell, and it was too late to pop another batch, so the twins asked Charlie if he could split the popcorn into two equal portions. Charlie knew that the large box held exactly 12 cups of popcorn. He also had 2 empty boxes on hand: a medium box that held exactly 8 cups and a small box that held exactly 5 cups. But none of the boxes had any measurement markings on them. ‘There must be a way to divide the 12 cups of popcorn so that the two boxes may contain exactly 6 cups each’, thought the chimp.
How did he give out an equal amount of popcorn to the twins?
Answer
Fill the 8-cup box from the 12-cup box, leaving 4 cups. Fill the 5-cup box from the 8-cup box, leaving 3 cups. Empty the 5-cup box into the 12-cup box. Now there are 9 cups in the 12-cup box and 3 cups in the 8-cup box. Pour the 3 cups into the 5-cup box. Fill the 8-cup box from the 12-cup box, leaving 1 cup in the 12-cup box. Fill the 5-cup box (it already has 3 cups in it) from the 8-cup box, leaving 6 cups in the 8-cup box. Finally, empty the 5-cup box into the 12-cup box. This results in 6 cups in the 12-cup box, 6 cups in the 8-cup box, and nothing in the 5-cup box.
