perplexus.info :: General : Sliding pennies #1

Sliding pennies #1 (Posted on 2005-05-31)

Six pennies are arranged in the pattern of O's below.

    O O O
   O O O

Nearby pennies are touching. By the fewest number of legal moves, transform the pattern into the pattern

O O O O O O

consecutive pennies touching. A legal move consists of sliding a penny, not picking up a penny, without disturbing the other pennies, to a new position touching at least two pennies. (You might want to look up Moving Quarters for a similar problem with the same rules.)

Submitted by McWorter

Rating: 2.5000 (4 votes)

Solution: (Hide)

We label the pennies and show their position after each of 6 moves.
1 2 3   -> 1 . 3 2 -> 1     . 2 ->   1      2 -> 4 5 6 ->   4 5 6   ->   4 5 6 3 -> 5 4 . 6 3 ->
.       2 1 ->   .          1   ->               . 5 4    6 3    -> 5 4    6 3 2 -> 5 4 1 6 3 2

Comments: ( You must be logged in to post comments.)

Subject	Author	Date
answer	Jacob	2005-07-04 15:12:22
7	Amber	2005-06-07 03:11:19
re(2): A question to McWorter	pcbouhid	2005-06-05 22:22:47
re: A question to McWorter	McWorter	2005-06-05 22:08:44
A question to McWorter	pcbouhid	2005-06-05 21:37:06
Played out in Excel	brianjn	2005-06-05 09:09:42
In TWO!!	Charley	2005-06-04 04:37:45
Temptation	brianjn	2005-06-03 03:30:05
re(3): I got three.	pcbouhid	2005-06-02 15:44:59
re(2): I got three.	ajosin	2005-06-02 13:02:44
re: I got three.	pcbouhid	2005-06-01 23:15:30
I got three.	Amanda	2005-06-01 22:38:32
re(2): I got 4	Fletch	2005-06-01 14:40:05
re: I got 4	Syzygy	2005-06-01 12:55:32
I got 4	bob	2005-06-01 00:50:12
Can you beat 6?	Egor	2005-05-31 21:34:34

Please log in:

Login:
Password:
Remember me:

Sign up! \| Forgot password

Search:

Search body:

Forums (0)
Newest Problems
Random Problem
FAQ | About This Site
Site Statistics
New Comments (0)
Unsolved Problems
Top Rated Problems
This month's top
Most Commented On

Chatterbox:

blackjack

flooble's webmaster puzzle


perplexus dot info