The boiling egg

[yogi bear]

Suppose you want to cook an egg for exactly 3 minutes. You have only a 5 minute hourglass timer and a 2 minute hourglass timer. Using these 2 timers, how can you boil the egg for exactly 3 minutes?

[kalen]

Set both timers at the same time.  When the two-minute timer runs out, you use the remaining three minutes on the five minute timer to time the egg boiling.

I assume one also has an egg in a pot of water as well since you didn't specify in your "riddle" to have "only" the two timers.... in which case, one dosen't boil an egg at all but has only two timers (which do him or her very little good in boiling an egg).

[yogi bear]

correct and I assumed the egg and boiling water was a given.

[kalen]

Well, one never knows with riddles.  This was apparently more of a mathematical question than a riddle (which does strive to thwart and confuse).