Answer to Two Pails:

Fill the 3-litre pail to the brim and pour the water into the 10-litre pail. Repeat this for 2 more times. Now, the 10-litre pail contains 9 litres of water. Fill the 3-litre pail again and slowly pour it into the 10-litre pail so that it reaches the brim. You then have 2 litres of water left in the 3-litre pail. Is your answer the same? There is an even better and faster way of getting the answer. Think about it.

 

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Better Answer:

Question indicates that the pails are transparent and perfect-cylinder shaped. Thus, if you tilt the pails slowly to a point where no water drips out, that will be exactly half of the pail. Do that to the 10-litre pail, which you will be left with 5 litres of water. Pour this to the brim of the 3-litre pail, you will be left with 2 litres in the 10-litre pail!

Did you get it? In Creative Maths, we challenged our children to think beyond standard answers, training them to be sharp in interpreting questions and deducing answers in all angles!