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.)
three assistants
all four travellers start with full packs (4 days rations each) At the end of the first day, one assitant gives a days rations to each of the other two assistants (this leave him one ration pack for the return trip) giving them four rationa packs each. At the end of the second day each of the remaining assistants gives one days ration pack to the general (leaving each of them with the two days rations it would require to get home) the general now has the four rationa packs he will need to make the remaining four days of his journey
Solution
