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.)
(In reply to
Puzzle Answer by K Sengupta)
The steps culminating in the successful way for the general to make it across is furnished hereunder as follows:
(0) The general, taking two men as his assistants, starts out on his journey, taking supplies to last a person for 4x3=12 days.
(1) After one day of journey, the general sends one of the assistants back to town with 1 day of provisions. During this time the three men together had used 3 days of supplies. Accordingly, the general and 1 assistant now have 12-4= 8 days of supplies remaining.
(2) At the end of the 2nd day 8-2*1=6 days of supplies remain for the two persons.
(3) The general now sends back the 2nd assistant with two days of supplies.
Accordingly, provisions left =(6-2 ) or 4 days of supplies.
(4) Since two days have passed, # days remaining to make it across is: 6-2=4
Thus, the general has 4 days left to make the trip across with 4 days of supplies. Accordingly, he will be successful in making the trip.
Edited on September 9, 2022, 10:17 pm
Explanation to Puzzle Answer
