A renowned and also atlethic rope thief arrives at a tower. Inside this tower two ropes with equal length are hanging downwards from the ceiling. The ropes are connected to the ceiling with rings. How can the thief steal as much rope as possible? The only equipment he carries is a knife.

He climbs upwards to the ceiling via one rope. He cuts the other rope at the top, and puts one end of the rope through a ring. Then he pulls the rope he climbed in up, and he connects the ends of the two ropes to each other. He moves to the other ring and cuts the rope he climbed in first at the top. Then he goes down using the two connected ropes. When he is down he can pull and will get almost everything of the ropes.