Did you solve it? Are you smarter than a carnival reveller?

Three friends at the Notting Hill carnival today. Photograph: Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty Images

Earlier today I set you the following puzzle:

Three friends set off to carnival with a jerry can containing 1.2litres of rum punch. On arrival they decide to go to three separate sound systems. So they must divide the booze equally between themselves. They have brought two large bottles for this purpose. But then they discover that these bottles have no measurements on them.

One of the friends spots an empty 50cl can of Red Stripe and an empty 15cl vial of something marked ‘rave juice’ on the ground. There’s a water tap on hand to clean the can and the vial.

The friends are able to divide the punch into three equal portions by pouring between the jerry can, the two bottles, the beer can and the vial.

How do they do it?

There are many ways to solve this, and they all require a minimum of 17 steps. The table below shows one way, listing in cl the amount of rum punch in the five receptacles - jerry can, Red stripe 50cl can, 15cl vial, two bottles - after each pouring. So, when the jerry can has 1.2 litres in it, which is 120cl, and the rest are empty, the amounts are 120-0-0-0-0.

For the first pouring we fill the 50cl can, leaving 70cl left in the jerry can, and then continue pouring exact amounts as following:

1. 70-50-0-0-0
   
2. 55-50-15-0-0
   
3. 55-50-0-15-0
   
4. 40-50-15-15-0
   
5. 40-50-0-30-0
   
6. 40-35-15-30-0
   
7. 40-35-0-45-0
   
8. 0-35-0-45-40
   
9. 0-20-15-45-40
   
10. 15-20-0-45-40
    
11. 15-5-15-45-40
    
12. 30-5-0-45-40
    
13. 30-0-5-45-40
    
14. 0-30-5-45-40
    
15. 0-50-5-25-40
    
16. 0-40-15-25-40
    
17. 0-40-0-40-40

On the seventeenth pouring the Red Stripe can and the two bottles all have 40cl in them each.

Thanks to Jelmer Steenhuis for this puzzle.

I post a puzzle here on a Monday every two weeks. If you want to propose a puzzle for this column, please email me I’d love to hear it.

My latest book is out this week: Football School: Where Football Explains the World is for children and uses football to explain subjects like maths, English, geography, physics, music, fashion, biology and more.

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