Chapter: Crossing River Problems

"My boat is on the shore." BYRON.

This is another mediæval class of puzzles. Probably the earliest example was by Abbot Alcuin, who was born in Yorkshire in 735 and died at Tours in 804. And everybody knows the story of the man with the wolf, goat, and basket of cabbages whose boat would only take one of the three at a time with the man himself. His difficulties arose from his being unable to leave the wolf alone with the goat, or the goat alone with the cabbages. These puzzles were considered by Tartaglia and Bachet, and have been later investigated by Lucas, De Fonteney, Delannoy, Tarry, and others. In the puzzles I give there will be found one or two new conditions which add to the complexity somewhat. I also include a pulley problem that practically involves the same principles.

  1. Problem: Crossing The Stream
  2. Problem: Crossing The River Axe
  3. Problem: Five Jealous Husbands
  4. Problem: The Four Elopements
  5. Problem: Stealing The Castle Treasure

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References

Project Gutenberg

  1. Dudeney, H. E.: "Amusements in Mathematics", The Authors' Club, 1917

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