Elementary POW, March 24-28, 1997

Elem POW Problems || March - June '97 Problems || Elem POW Main Page

Suppose you want to bake a cake. The recipe for this cake calls for exactly 1 cup of milk. You only have two containers: the smaller one holds 3 cups and the larger holds 5 cups. How can you use these two containers to measure exactly 1 cup of milk?

This week's mentor is Dawn Heston from the Friends University in Wichita, Kansas.

All of these students got the right answer and they all did the problem the same way.

Correct Solutions submitted by:

Mrs. Hayes
5/6 graders
Darcy, Ashleigh, Jessie, Melissa, John, Clifton, and Nick
Shaffer Elementary, Littleton, Colorado
chayes@jeffco.k12.co.us

Fill the 3 cup up with milk and pour
into the 5 cup, you will have room in
the five cup for 2 more cups.  Fill the
3 cup up again pour into the 5 cup and
you will have 1 cup left over to put in
the cake.
..............................................................................

Jennifer Cumming
Mrs. O'Connell's 5th grade
Center School, Stow, MA

You measure 3 cups of milk and pour it into the 5 cup container.
Then you do it again and the leftover is exactly 1 cup if you 
measured correctly.
..............................................................................

William Ewing
Mrs. Bonner's grade 3
Center School, Stow MA

To get one cup of milk, you first must fill the three cup
container and pour its contents into the five cup container.  
Then, refill the three cup container and finish filling the 
five cup container with two cups from the three cup container.  
Then you'll have exactly one cup of milk in the three cup 
container.

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