Saturday, November 21, 2009

An enigma...

As most people know, my guilty pleasure is books. Picture books, novels, comic books, cook books, biographies--most any kind of book, really. The smell of the paper and the thrill of knowledge yet to be gained brings an indescribable giddiness to me. For the record, I know I'm a nerd. Also for the record, I am proud of it.

Accordingly, no one will be surprised to hear that I wound up at Barnes and Noble this morning buying a book. I wandered through the aisles for the better part of an hour, making a list of books I'd like to get from the library and those to keep my eye out for at book sales. I had a little birthday money to spend, and I decided to treat myself to a book unlike any that I currently own. It's called, The Big Book of Riddles, Puzzles, and Enigmas. I bought it because I thought it would be a good end of class activity for my students, but I am finding that I am intrigued by it. I love testing my logic skills and bending my brain. To help you join in the fun, here's an enigma from the book.

WOLF, GOAT, and CABBAGE

Accompanied by a wolf, a goat, and a cabbage, you must cross a river to get home. Unfortunately, you have a tiny boat which only permits you to transport a single load at a time. Therefore, during each trip, you must leave two unguarded on the riverbank while making the crossing. How will you manage to get all of them safely across, without one of them being eaten (the wolf will eat the goat, and the goat will eat the cabbage)?

Can you figure it out?

5 comments:

Jeff said...

You carry the goat across first. You leave him and go get the wolf. You take the goat back with you to the first side leaving the wolf alone on the second. You leave the goat on the first side as you bring the cabbage over. You leave the wolf and the cabbage together on the second side to finally go back and get the goat and now you have all three.

I like logic puzzles too.

Robyn said...

I figured it out too! Jeff wouldn't let me see his comment before I made my guess. I feel so smart. Thanks for the fun brain bending activity.

Kristy said...

I guessed it right! That's a fun idea for your students, too. Happy Thankgiving!

Paul and Susan said...

I am puzzle impaired. It was fun to see other people get the answers right.

Carol said...

I got it! Just don't ask me about two trains leaving the station atdifferent times. As you know I was never very much help with math word problems!