Devising a Plan: Strategy

Strategy

For this problem, we need to find a strategy to transport a fox, a duck, and a sack of corn across a river without any of them being eaten.

There are a few conditions:

• The farmer can only carry one item at a time in the boat.

• The fox and the duck are never left together without the farmer.

• The duck and the corn are never left together without the farmer.

We have gathered all the information from the problem statement and must devise a sequence of moves to achieve this goal. Have you encountered such problems before?

We face similar issues in our daily lives when we have to plan our budget. We start with a high-level plan for the week, then break it down into daily meals, considering individual ingredients and preparation steps without going over the budget.

However, is there any specific solution to our dilemma? We’ve analyzed the problem. Now, with every step forward, we have to check that we don’t create an unwanted scenario that goes against the rules, for example:

• If the farmer takes the duck, then the fox and the corn are on one side of the river.

• If they take the corn, the fox will eat the duck.

• If they take the fox, the duck will eat the corn.

By following the pattern in the image below, we can successfully transport the farmer, fox, duck, and corn across the river without any of them being eaten by the other.