A French foreign legion general must make a trip across the deserts of Tunis to a remote outpost. He must travel on foot from the nearest town, and the distance is such that it will take a person six days to cover it.
The problem is that a person on foot can only carry enough water and provisions to last him four days. The general can take with him any number of assistants to help him carry the supplies, but they must be fed as well, and cannot be left stranded in the desert.
How will the general make it across, and how many assistants will he need to help him? (Find the smallest number.)
2 assistants as already described by others
(first assistant returns after 1 day, 2nd assitant returns after 2)
**6 days journey**
1 assistant
first assistant returns after 1 day, leaving 1 food on ground, and giving other to general
general returns to base at 2 days point, leaving 1 food at that point.
there is now enough food so that general can travel straight through, picking up 1 food at day 1 and day 2 points.
**10 days journey**
no assistants
similar to above, general leaves 2 food at 1 day point, and returns. on second journey, he picks up 1 food at 1 day, and deposits it at 2 day point, returning to base.
he can now travel straight through picking up food on the way.
**12 days journey**
each of these options interestingly needs exactly 12 days food
assistants/days
