Mathematics
Problem Of the Week
Spring
2002
POW #12
Spilt Milk
A rather absentminded professor starts to pour cream slowly into his
very full cup of black coffee while thinking about a theorem he is trying to
prove. Not noticing that the cup was
already full, he continues to pour, the cream mixes instantly with the coffee
in the cup and the mixture overflows out of the cup (and all over the papers on
his desk) at exactly the same rate as fresh cream is being added. He finally realizes something is amiss when
the cream cup is empty. If the original
amounts of black coffee and cream were the same (say 1 cup of each), how much
cream is now in the cup with the remaining coffee?