What is the fewest number of steps (changing one letter at a time, with each step yielding a common English word) in which you can change "HOT" into "AIR" and then "AIR" into "BAG"?
H O T
. . .
. . .
A I R
. . .
. . .
B A G
(In reply to
My solution by H)
Actually, that's four steps for each (three intermediate words). I don't think it's possible to get three steps for either, because each step would need to contain one of the letters of the second word.
AOT, HOR, BIR, AAR, and AIG are not words.
HIT is, but then AIT and HIR are not words, so four must be the minimum number of steps.
There can only be so many ways to do that, even, how many of them work?
re: My solution
