Talk:Wolf, goat and cabbage problem

Two items at a time
Do we have a source that this is a real puzzle? Because the answer is entirely trivial. Take any two things across the river. Take one of them back, and then take it and the last item across. I strongly suspect that there is supposed to be more to this. Is there a citation?206.181.86.98 (talk) 21:53, 14 November 2012 (UTC)


 * The farmer can't take two items across the river at once. The conditions of the puzzle say "in crossing the river by boat, the farmer could carry only himself and a single one of his purchases". As for citations, there are plenty in the References section, and the Occurrence and variations section describes the origins of the puzzle. Gandalf61 (talk) 10:02, 15 November 2012 (UTC)
 * This was what was being referred to. "In some parts of Africa, variations on the puzzle have been found in which the boat can carry two objects instead of only one. When the puzzle is weakened in this way it is possible to introduce the extra constraint that no two items, including A and C, can be left together." It is entirely trivial, but from the reference, that seems to be the point. 96.238.211.171 (talk) 07:11, 2 January 2013 (UTC)

Yes, the solution could be called trivial since the solution is forced: at every step there is simply no way to go wrong, as the rules don't allow it. I believe the actual solution is the realization that you can take things back across the river, something that isn't obvious from the statement of the puzzle. That's the eureka! moment, although as I said you don't actually have a choice! 71.162.113.226 (talk) 00:54, 31 January 2021 (UTC)

I think the algorithm should be clarified/detalized
If I understood correctly, conditions of problem say that 1*) the farmer may not leave either the combination fox + goose without himself, or goose + beans without himself; 2*) in each moment only the farmer + maximum one item is allowed in the boat (not more than one). The algorithm described here states that the farmer must 1) take the goose over; 2) return; 3) take the fox or beans over; 4) return with goose; 5) take beans or fox over; 6) return; 7) take goose over. The question is how he drops off an item and takes the other one in steps 3 and 5 (for example in 3rd). If he firstly lands off the fox or beans, then takes the goose, it results that the fox + goose or beans + goose would be on the bank without the farmer for a period (even being it short) [condition 1* violated]. If, vice versa, farmer firstly takes the goose then attempts to land off the fox/beans then boat would have two objects at the same time [condition 2* violated]. I think in order to solve this the farmer must firstly land off on the bank on his own, after that he lands off the item in the boat and finally is allowed to put into the boat the item which was already on the bank before the boat came (and then he goes himself into the boat). But maybe the man comes off/comes back together with the item (is it physically possible)? I think for 100% comprehensive algorithm these things should be clarified. 89.149.102.101 (talk) 05:06, 22 February 2015 (UTC)

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