Three missionaries and three cannibals are on one side of the river, wanting to get across.

Unfortunately, the only boat available can hold a maximum of two people. The missionaries, wanting to stay safe, can never be on a side with more cannibals than missionaries (even for a moment!). The boat cannot travel under its own power, so there must be at least one person on board for it to cross.

How can the missionaries get safely across?

Perhaps the missionaries can tie the boat to a cord.

In the first travel a cannibal (driving the boat) and a missionary get across to the other side. The other missionaries recover the boat working at hand traction with the cord. Once they have it, the second cannibal and the second missionary cross. And they repeat the same thing for the last pair.

 

Edited on May 29, 2005, 2:44 pm

Posted by armando on 2005-05-29 14:41:09