Three men, travelling with their wives, came to a
river which they wanted to cross. The one available
boat would accomodate only two people.
Since the husbands were very jealous, no woman
could be with a man unless her own husband was present.
Under these severe handicaps, how can they get across the river using the one boat?
In sending your solution, perhaps it would be
a good idea to refer to the three couples as
A, a, B, b, C, and c, where the capital letters
refer to husbands and lower case letters refer to
their wives (or vice versa!).
Solution:
Mrs. B and Mrs. C cross, and Mrs. B returns with the
boat.
Mrs. B and Mrs. A cross, and Mrs. A returns with the
boat.
Mr. B and Mr. C cross, and Mr. and Mrs. B return with
the boat.
Mr. B and Mr. A cross, and Mrs. C returns with the
boat.
Mrs. B and Mrs. C cross, and Mr. A returns with the
boat to pick up his wife.
| A B C a | --- b c ---> | |
| A B C a | <--- b --- | c |
| A B C | --- b a ---> | c |
| A B C | <--- a --- | b c |
| A a | --- B C ---> | b c |
| A a | <--- B b --- | C c |
| a b | --- A B ---> | C c |
| a b | <--- c --- | A B C |
| a | --- b c ---> | A B C |
| a | <--- A --- | B C b c |
| --- A a ---> | B C b c |
Correctly solved by:
| 1. Tom Marino | Winchester, VA |
| 2. Liz Cotter | Oak Hill, VA |
| 3. Richard Mocarski | Winchester, VA |
| 4. Ankit Garg | Fremont, CA |