Cannibals & Missionaries Problem
As part of an Artificial Intelligence course I’m currently taking, I’ve been confronted to an interesting logic problem called “Cannibals & Missionaries”. It’s a kind of Jigzaw that we could solve using a specific algorithm. Anyone with some logic can solve the problem, not just computers, so I though someone might be interested in taking a look at it.
The problem: There are 3 missionaries and 3 cannibals on the left side of a river. We want to move them all to the right side of the river. In order to do that, we have a boat that can move two characters maximum at the time. Your job is to move all characters considering that:
- The number of cannibals cannot be greater than the number of missionaries at any time on either side of the river (character on the boat are included in the count). If this occurs, the cannibals will eat the missionaries - Miam!
- The boat can move 1 or 2 people at the time, it cannot move if it’s empty
- The boat can be driven any of the characters no matter in what combination they are placed
Instead of solving it on pen on paper, you can play a flash version of the problem, as well as other logic problem, on Plastelina.net
Play Cannibals and Missionaries