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Question 64885: I wonder if anyone can help me solve this word problem. It's for my behaviorla science class, but was sondering if anyone out there knows how to figure this out.
There is a man who has a raft and cannot leave his dog, cat and mouse on the one side together. How does the man figure out a system for transporting each of the animals across the river without any of them getting eaten. He is suppose to take one at a time across and come back to get another.
You can put the cat on first and then come back and try and get the dog, but then when you go back to get the mouse the cat and dog fight. If you put the dog on first same thing. The only thing I can think of is to put the cat on first and then the man could put the mouse in his pocket and take the dog with him. Does that sound right? Or is there a way to solve this problem?
Lost.
Thanks, Sher
Answer by Earlsdon(6294)   (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! This is a variation on an old problem but it does have a solution that does not require the man to put the mouse in his pocket (not a bad idea, though).
The basic idea is to never leave the dog and cat alone together or the cat and the mouse alone together.
We have to make an assumption that the dog would not eat the mouse if left alone together.
1) The man takes the cat across and leaves it on the other side and he returns
2) The man takes the dog across and leaves it but he picks up the cat and returns with it.
3) The man picks up the mouse but leaves the cat behind and takes the mouse across and leaves it with the mouse-friendly dog and he returns.
4) He gets the cat and takes it across, and he's done.
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