(1)�CROSSING THE STREAM.

During a country ramble Mr. and Mrs. Lovemake found themselves in a pretty little
dilemma. They had to cross a stream in a small boat which was capable of carrying
only 150 lbs. weight. But Mr. Softleigh and his wife each weighed exactly 150
lbs., and each of their sons weighed 75 lbs. And then there was the dog, who could
not be induced on any terms to swim. On the principle of "ladies first," they at
once sent Mrs. Softleigh over; but this was a stupid oversight, because she had to
come back again with the boat, so nothing was gained by that operation. How did
they all succeed in getting across? The reader will find it much easier than the
Softleigh family did, for their greatest enemy could not have truthfully called
them a brilliant quartette�while the dog was a perfect fool.

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1.solution:::::

First, the two sons cross, and one returns Then the man crosses and the other son
returns. Then both sons cross and one returns. Then the lady crosses and the other
son returns Then the two sons cross and one of them returns for the dog. Eleven
crossings in all.

It would appear that no general rule can be given for solving these river-crossing
puzzles. A formula can be found for a particular case (say on No. 375 or 376) that
would apply to any number of individuals under the restricted conditions; but it
is not of much use, for some little added stipulation will entirely upset it. As
in the case of the measuring puzzles, we generally have to rely on individual
ingenuity.

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(2)�FIVE JEALOUS HUSBANDS.

During certain local floods five married couples found themselves surrounded by
water, and had to escape from their unpleasant position in a boat that would only
hold three persons at a time. Every husband was so jealous that he would not allow
his wife to be in the boat or on either bank with another man (or with other men)
unless he was himself present. Show the quickest way of getting these five men and
their wives across into safety.

Call the men A, B, C, D, E, and their respective wives a, b, c, d, e. To go over

and return counts as two crossings. No tricks such as ropes, swimming, currents,
etc., are permitted.

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2.solution:::::
It is obvious that there must be an odd number of crossings, and that if the five
husbands had not been jealous of one another the party might have all got over in
nine crossings. But no wife was to be in the company of a man or men unless her
husband was present. This entails two more crossings, eleven in all.

The following shows how it might have been done. The capital letters stand for the
husbands, and the small letters for their respective wives. The position of
affairs is shown at the start, and after each crossing between the left bank and
the right, and the boat is represented by the asterisk. So you can see at a glance
that a, b, and c went over at the first crossing, that b and c returned at the
second crossing, and so on.

ABCDE abcde * ..
1. ABCDE de .. * abc
2. ABCDE bcde * .. a
3. ABCDE e .. * abcd
4. ABCDE de * .. abc
5. DE de .. * ABC abc
6. CDE cde * .. AB ab
7. cde .. * ABCDE ab
8. bcde * .. ABCDE a
9. e .. * ABCDE abcd
10. bc e * .. ABCDE a d
11. .. * ABCDE abcde

There is a little subtlety concealed in the words "show the quickest way."

Everybody correctly assumes that, as we are told nothing of the rowing

capabilities of the party, we must take it that they all row equally well. But it
is obvious that two such persons should row more quickly than one.

Therefore in the second and third crossings two of the ladies should take back the
boat to fetch d, not one of them only. This does not affect the number of
landings, so no time is lost on that account. A similar opportunity occurs in
crossings 10 and 11, where the party again had the option of sending over two
ladies or one only.

To those who think they have solved the puzzle in nine crossings I would say that
in every case they will find that they are wrong. No such jealous husband would,
in the circumstances, send his wife over to the other bank to a man or men, even
if she assured him that she was coming back next time in the boat. If readers will
have this fact in mind, they will at once discover their errors.

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4.WHO WAS FIRST?

Anderson, Biggs, and Carpenter were staying together at a place by the seaside.
One day they went out in a boat and were a mile at sea when a rifle was fired on
shore in their direction. Why or by whom the shot was fired fortunately does not
concern us, as no information on these points is obtainable, but from the facts I
picked up we can get material for a curious little puzzle for the novice.

It seems that Anderson only heard the report of the gun, Biggs only saw the smoke,
and Carpenter merely saw the bullet strike the water near them. Now, the question
arises: Which of them first knew of the discharge of the rifle?
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SOLUTION:::::
Biggs, who saw the smoke, would be first; Carpenter, who saw the bullet strike the
water, would be second; and Anderson, who heard the report, would be last of all.

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5�A WONDERFUL VILLAGE.

There is a certain village in Japan, situated in a very low valley, and yet the
sun is nearer to the inhabitants every noon, by 3,000 miles and upwards, than when
he either rises or sets to these people. In what part of the country is the
village situated?
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SOLUTION:::::
When the sun is in the horizon of any place (whether in Japan or elsewhere), he is
the length of half the earth's diameter more distant from that place than in his
meridian at noon. As the earth's semi-diameter is nearly 4,000 miles, the sun must
be considerably more than 3,000 miles nearer at noon than at his rising, there
being no valley even the hundredth part of 1,000 miles deep.

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6.�A CALENDAR PUZZLE.

If the end of the world should come on the first day of a new century, can you say
what are the chances that it will happen on a Sunday?

SOLUTION:::::
I will give my complete working of the solution, so that readers may see how easy
it is when you know how to proceed. And first of all, as there is an even number
of rings, I will say that they may all be taken off in one-third of (2(n + 1) - 2)
moves; and since n in our case is 14, all the rings may be taken off in 10,922
moves. Then I say 10,922 - 9,999 = 923, and proceed to find the position when only
923 out of the 10,922 moves remain to be made. Here is the curious method of doing
this. It is based on the binary scale method used by Monsieur L. Gros, for an
account of which see W.W. Rouse Ball's Mathematical Recreations.

Divide 923 by 2, and we get 461 and the remainder 1; divide 461 by 2, and we get
230 and the remainder 1; divide 230 by 2, and we get 115 and the remainder nought.
Keep on dividing by 2 in this way as long as possible, and all the remainders will
be found to be 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, the last remainder being to the left
and the first remainder to the right. As there are fourteen rings and only ten
figures, we place the difference, in the form of four noughts, in brackets to the
left, and bracket all those figures that repeat a figure on their left. Then we
get the following arrangement: (0 0 0 0) 1 (1 1) 0 (0) 1 (1) 0 1 (1). This is the
correct answer to the puzzle, for if we now place rings below the line to
represent the figures in brackets and rings on the line for the other figures, we
get the solution in the required form, as below:�

0 0 0 00
_______________________________

0000 00 0 0 0

This is the exact position of the rings after the 9,999th move has been made, and
the reader will find that the method shown will solve any similar question, no
matter how many rings are on the tiring-irons. But in working the inverse process,
where you are required to ascertain the number of moves necessary in order to
reach a given position of the rings, the rule will require a little modification,
because it does not necessarily follow that the position is one that is actually
reached in course of taking off all the rings on the irons, as the reader will
presently see. I will here state that where the total number of rings is odd the
number of moves required to take them all off is one-third of (2(n + 1) - 1).