Question

A powerful sorcerer has hired Rickey Rat as an intern. The wizard gives Rick the task of carrying water from a well to the garden. The path from the well to the garden is up a staircase with 1000 steps. The wizard gives Rickey a one-litre bucket and tells him that the bucket was an old one he experimented with, so it has a peculiar flaw - it leaks one millilitre of water for every step climbed up, but does not lose any water if you climb down any steps.
Rickey has a trick up his sleeve - he has secretly learnt to use a copying spell and can create as many copies of the bucket as he wants, but the copied buckets also have the same flaw. Also, he is only strong enough to carry one bucket at a time.
If the well has three litres of water in it, what is the maximum amount of water that Rickey Rat can carry up the stairs to successfully water the wizard's plants?​

Answer 1

Answer: The answer is 833ml

Explanation:

Step-1

Rick starts by carrying 3 buckets  at a time up 333 Steps, for a total loss 333x3 =999gml of water.

Step-2

He will then pour the contents of one of the buckets into the other two except the 1 mL that will be left and then he carries the two buckets each up 500 more steps.

Step 3

Then at the 833 Step, he will put all of the left over water in a single bucket and then carry it up the last 167 steps.