Humans and Monkeys

Jun 29th, 2009 | By admin | Category: Drain Your Brain

Three humans, one big monkey and two small monkeys are to cross a river:

* Only humans and the big monkey can row the boat.
* At all times, the number of humans on either side of the river must be greater or equal to the number of monkeys on that side. (Or else the humans will be eaten by the monkeys!)
* The boat only has room for 2 (monkeys or humans).
* Monkeys can jump out of the boat when it’s banked.

The three columns represent the left bank, the boat, and the right bank respectively. The < or > indicates the direction of motion of the boat.
HHHMmm . .
HHHm Mm> .
HHHm HHH Mm> m
HHH HM HH> mm
HM Hm HM> Hm
Hm mm HH> HM
mm m Mm> HHH
m . Mm> HHHm
. . HHHMmm

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