Reading Martin Gardner Pays Off
(Or: Life Imitates Logic Puzzle)
Lately, to measure out water for coffee, I’ve been filling whichever mug I intend to drink from, and pouring it into the coffee maker. That way, I know there’s the right amount.
This morning, I was making coffee for the drive in to work, and noticed that I had poured coffee from a regular mug, rather than the larger travel mug I was going to use. I wasn’t going to upend the coffee maker over the sink to empty the water and start over. I could have just estimated how much more water I needed to add, but came up with a cleverer solution, below the flip.
I filled the travel mug with water, then poured water from the travel mug into the smaller mug I had accidentally used. The travel mug now contained the correct amount of water, minus the amount I had already put in the coffee maker. So I just poured the remainder into the coffee maker.