You need to get all three items across a river but you only have room for one item at a time in your boat. If you leave the fox with the goose... If you leave the goose with the corn... How do you get across the river successfully while still in possesion of your fox, your goose, and your bag of corn?
2006-08-29 11:31:34 · 8 answers · asked by b0l0gnahead 1 in Education & Reference ➔ Homework Help
Once upon a time a farmer went to market and purchased a fox, a goose, and a bag of beans. On his way home, the farmer came to the bank of a river and hired a boat. But in crossing the river by boat, the farmer could carry only himself and a single one of his purchases - the fox, the goose, or the bag of beans.
If left alone, the fox would eat the goose, and the goose would eat the beans.
The farmer's challenge was to carry himself and his purchases to the far bank of the river, leaving each purchase intact. How did he do it?
The first step must be to bring the goose across the river, as any other will result in the goose or the beans being eaten. When the farmer returns to the original side, he has the choice of bringing either the fox or the beans across. If he brings the fox across, he must then return to bring the beans over, resulting in the fox eating the goose. If he brings the beans across, he will need to return to get the fox, resulting in the beans being eaten. Here he has a dilemma, solved by bringing the fox (or the beans) over and bringing the goose back. Now he can bring the beans (or the fox) over, leaving the goose, and finally return to fetch the goose.
His actions in the solution are summarised in the following steps:
Bring goose over
Return
Bring fox or beans over
Bring goose back
Bring beans or fox over
Return
Bring goose over
Thus there are seven crossings, four forward and three back.
Variations
Many variations exist of the three objects (eg. wolf, goat and cabbage or fox, duck and sack of corn), but the central logic remains the same, being A eats B and B eats C. They are all part of the generic category of river crossing puzzles where the object is to move a set of pieces across a river subject to various restrictions. The answer in one lateral thinking variant has the goose swim across the river. A version of this puzzle was published by Lewis Carroll, and is sometimes attributed to him, but it is much older. as is attested by an illustration of it in the illumination of a medieval manuscript.
2006-08-29 11:38:00 · answer #1 · answered by pretty_brown_eyes 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Put the fox in the boat tie the goose to the boat(cuz geese can swim) and then(with the goose still attached to the boat so he won't get eaten) go back for the corn.
2006-08-29 11:36:40 · answer #2 · answered by Bubbles Will Rule the World!!!!! 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If the river is not too deep, just wade through it with corn on your head and the goose tied to a string and swimming with you with the fox walking in front of you
2006-08-29 11:44:47 · answer #3 · answered by Shashi 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Take the goose, come back
Take the fox, bring back the goose
Take the grain, come back
Take the goose.
2006-08-29 11:36:33 · answer #4 · answered by ryanisalifestyle 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Take the goose, come back
Take the fox, bring back the goose
Take the grain, come back
Take the goose.
2006-08-29 11:35:16 · answer #5 · answered by puhpaul 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Bag Of Corn
2016-11-08 06:36:22 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
ide take the goose cuz he like swims and stuff....what the hell idk!!! thats stupid anyway! thanx 4 the points
2006-08-29 11:37:25 · answer #7 · answered by Rachel F 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
buy a bigger boat!
2006-08-29 11:39:29 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋