To solve the problem, we need to determine the rate at which the outlet pipe empties the tank.
First, let's define the rates:
The rate at which the outlet pipe empties the tank can be calculated as:
tank per hour.
This means the outlet pipe alone will empty of the tank in one hour.
We need to find how long it takes for the outlet pipe to make a full tank become half-full. This is essentially half the tank capacity:
hours.
Thus, the outlet pipe alone can make the full tank half-full in 20 hours.
For any natural number $k$, let $a_k = 3^k$. The smallest natural number $m$ for which \[ (a_1)^1 \times (a_2)^2 \times \dots \times (a_{20})^{20} \;<\; a_{21} \times a_{22} \times \dots \times a_{20+m} \] is: