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A simple puzzle - Water Shortage in Chennai

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mskmoorthy

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I was told that there has been a severe water shortage in some portions of Chennai. Here is a puzzle at the 6th grade level understanding (people thinking outside the box will get the puzzle and the answer! :) ) This problem does not require pencil and paper - If you ask me where the puzzle is , the puzze is here - wise ones will find it! :) :)

There are four taps of water (let us call them A, B, C and D) and a Bucket. Tap A by itsef can fill the Bucket in one hour. Tap B by itself can fill the Bucket in 30 minutes. Tap C by itself can fill the Bucket in 20 mintes. Tap D by itself can fill the Bucket in 15 minutes.

Question: How long will it take to fill the Bucket with all four taps running.
 
mskmoorthy said:
I was told that there has been a severe water shortage in some portions of Chennai. Here is a puzzle at the 6th grade level understanding (people thinking outside the box will get the puzzle and the answer! :) ) This problem does not require pencil and paper - If you ask me where the puzzle is , the puzze is here - wise ones will find it! :) :)
.
Click to expand...

I am not wise but with the right assumptions this could have very many answers... the most simple being "as long as it takes", but some additional ones are below:

- one is that in chennai, with the water shortage, this bucket would never be filled. :-)
- another is that with all four taps being sourced from a single pipeline, it should be tap D as it is the quickest (15 mins)
- if I am allowed to connect all taps via a hose to the bucket then it would involve some computation :-) (assuming the rate of water flow is the same when all taps are opened) - 6 mins.
- the last answer is kinda cranky: since you have not mentioned an empty bucket, I can assume that the bucket is already filled, and hence it wont take any additional time :-)
 
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Oh Wise one! :) :)

Pray - tell me what is the value of 0,999 to the power of 1000 without using calculator or google god - (if you do use google god or wolframalpha explain why you got that result (not to me - but to yourself) - Then what you learnt by rote you understood!
 
The intended answer is 6 minutes.

Reason: In one hour A alone wil filll 1 empty Bucket, B alone will fill 2 buckets, C alone will fill 3 buckets and D alone will fill 4 buckets. In hour all of them can fill 10 (1+2+3+4) Buckets. which implies, to fill one Bucket you need 6 minutes.
 
Moorthy Sir,
I too got same answer by 1/ (1/60+1/30+1/20+1/15)=1/(10/60)=6 minutes...But I am scratching my head what could be the out of box solution for the water crisis
 
Shri Ganesh Sir,

This problem I posed arose after hearing this audio - Does Math Matter
http://www.sciencefriday.com/segment/07/03/2015/does-math-matter.html

Please listen at 25:36 minute mark in the soundcloud audio
and hearing about the water shortage. Interesting thing will be to find what possible mistakes one can make in doing this (and why one makes those mistakes ), how to look at this problem (not just a routine problem of inverse proportionality).
 
OMG! This thread is going crazy! :becky:

For those who are NOT able to read a few lines in some posts, here is the hint:
Please 'select' the unseen lines to see! :ranger:

BTW, for the water problem, assuming an empty bucket without a hole (reminds me of the 'Dear Liza' song! :) ) I too got the

answer by calculating how many buckets will be filled in one hour. Answer is 10 and hence 6 minutes to fill one! :thumb:

P.S: Prof Sir, I think you used a comma instead of a dot in the second puzzle! :spy:
 
Either my computer is selectively reading the lines or a few nuts go missing from my biological CPU every time I read this thread. Thamaso ma jyotirgamaya. LOL.
 
More like jyotirmaa tama gamaya after reading this thread. I am reminded of this book http://www.amazon.com/From-Light-Darkness-Stephen-Mehler/dp/1931882495
:)
 
Vaagmi said:
Either my computer is selectively reading the lines or a few nuts go missing from my biological CPU every time I read this thread. Thamaso ma jyotirgamaya. LOL.
Click to expand...
Not able to 'see' the lines even after I posted the clue to get them? :tsk:

BTW, my P C Ji sometimes refuses to show a few fonts on the screen!
Then the 'select' option helps to 'see' them. :ranger:
 
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