River crossing puzzle

Common card · No. 492671

A river crossing puzzle is a type of puzzle in which the object is to carry items from one river bank to another, usually in the fewest trips. The difficulty of the puzzle may arise from restrictions on which or how many items can be transported at the same time, or which or how many items may be safely left together. The setting may vary cosmetically, for example, by replacing the river by a bridge. The earliest known river-crossing problems occur in the manuscript Propositiones ad Acuendos Juvenes (English: Problems to sharpen the young), traditionally said to be written by Alcuin. The earliest copies of this manuscript date from the 9th century; it contains three river-crossing problems, including the wolf, goat and cabbage problem and the missionaries and cannibals problem. Well-known river-crossing puzzles include: The wolf, goat and cabbage problem, in which a wolf, goat and cabbage must cross the river in a boat but the neither the goat and cabbage, or wolf and goat can be alone...

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