An honest dairyman in preparing his milk for public consumption employed a can marked B, containing milk, and a can marked A, containing water. From can A he poured enough to double the contents of can B. Then he poured from can B into can A enough to double its contents. Then he finally poured from can A into can B until their contents were exactly equal. After these operations he would send the can A to London, and the puzzle is to discover what are the relative proportions of milk and water that he provides for the Londoners' breakfast-tables. Do they get equal proportions of milk and water--or two parts of milk and one of water--or what? It is an interesting question, though, curiously enough, we are not told how much milk or water he puts into the cans at the start of his operations.
366.--THE HONEST DAIRYMAN.
From Amusements in Mathematics by Henry Ernest Dudeney.