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Ladle size that halves wine in two draws

Question

A keg holds 1010 gallons of wine. On each of two days a full ladle is taken out and the keg is topped back up with water, with the contents mixed before the second draw. Afterwards the keg is half wine, half water. The ladle's capacity is a−bca-b\sqrt c gallons where a=bca=bc. Find a+b+ca+b+c.

Short answer

17. Each draw keeps a fraction 1−x101-\tfrac{x}{10} of the wine, so 10(1−x10)2=510\left(1-\tfrac{x}{10}\right)^2=5, giving 1−x10=121-\tfrac x{10}=\tfrac1{\sqrt2} and x=10−52x=10-5\sqrt2. Then a=10,b=5,c=2a=10,b=5,c=2 and a+b+c=17a+b+c=17.

Adapted from QuantQuestions.io; question and answer rewritten by SelfMadeQuant.com.

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