You have two very hungry termites and two sticks of wood. One stick of wood is 12 inches long and the other is 16 inches long. One termite can eat sticks at the rate of 1 inch every 3 minutes. The other termite can eat 1 inch in 4 minutes. How would you use the termites and sticks to measure 61 minutes?
Answer
Start the slow termite eating the longer stick. It will take the slow termite 16 minutes to eat the 4 inches that will make the sticks the same size. When the sticks are the same size, start the fast termite on the other stick. This termite will finish his 12-inch stick in 36 minutes. That’s 52 minutes elapsed so far and the slow termite still has 3 inches left on his stick. Remove the slow termite and let the fast termite finish off the 3 inches in 9 minutes for a total of 61 minutes.
