A trisable works like an hourglass, except it is made up of three compartments. It can then be placed in two positions: with one compartment above and two below (as in figure A), or with two compartments above and one below (as in figure B). In the first case, the flowing sand is evenly distributed between the two lower compartments. In the second position, the two upper compartments flow into the lower one at the same time.
The hourglass illustrated by the figures contains exactly eight minutes of sand.
So, in position A, the sand will flow for eight minutes and each bottom compartment will contain four minutes of sand. In position B, the left compartment will be emptied in six minutes and the right compartment in two minutes. After six minutes, all the sand will be at the bottom.
Initially all the sand is in the same compartment, can you measure a time of five minutes with this hourglass?
Can you imagine a method to measure any integer number of minutes?
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