>There are 3 missionaries and 3 natives. They need to cross a river in a boat that only holds 2. The restraints are that the cannibals can't outnumber the Missionaries on either side because the missionaries feared that the natives would over-power and eat them.
(c=cannibal, m=missionary)
left - on boat - right
cccmmm -
ccmm - cm
ccmm - m - c
cmm - cm - c
cmm - m - cc
mm - cm - cc
mm - m - ccc
m - mm - ccc
m - cc - cmm
c - cm - cmm
c - m - ccmm
- cm - ccmm
- cccmmm
After using brute force on this, it reminds me of the Towers of Hanoi problem (Moving a stack of disks across 3 pegs where no larger disk can fit over a smaller disk)
I heard a simplified version:
A farmer has a dog, a chicken, and some grain. He must cross a stream by carrying each over his head one at a time. If left alone, the dog will eat the chicken and the chicken will eat the grain. How does he get all three across?
Answer: (d=dog,c=chicken,g=grain,f=farmer)
dcgf -
dg - cf -
dg - f - c
d - gf - c
d - cf - g
c - df - g
c - f - dg
- cf - dg
- - dcgf
Previous
Next
Reply
View the map of this thread
View the map of this thread starting from this message only
View all messages of this thread
View all messages of this thread starting from this message only