text: someone please explain the die hard 3 jug riddle? ok, mcclaine and zeus have a 3 gallon jug and a 5 gallon jug, and need 4 gallons. can anyone explain how they actually get that 4 gallons?  i'm just dumb like that! yes m has the 3 gallon jug , and z the 5 gallon jug:  m fills his jug up and pours it into zs, so z has 3 in his jug. m fills his jug up again, and then fills zs jug up, but this leaves 1 gallon in ms jug since it only takes 2 more to fill up zs jug. now z dumps his jug, and m puts the gallon he has into zs jug, so z has a gallon in his jug. then m fills his jug up again and pours it into zs, so z now has 1+3 =4 gallons in his jug.  now they celebrate: m gets a gallon of pure alcohol and pours it into zs jug so they have 5 gallons of hooch, and then they make some calls and have a party. end of story