There are 8 people on one side of a river. They have a raft to help them get to the other side. There is a father and his two sons, a mother and her two daughters, a policeman and a thief. Everyone must cross the river, but you must follow the rules:
* Only 2 persons on the raft at a time
* The father can not stay with any of the daughters
without their mother's presence
* The mother can not stay with any of the sons
without their father's presence
* The thief (striped shirt) can not stay with any
family member if the Policeman is not there
* Only the Father, the Mother and the Policeman know
how to operate the raft
The operators can go and come back. How do I solve this?
To solve this puzzle, you can follow these steps:
1. Let's represent the people as follows: Father (F), Sons (S1 and S2), Mother (M), Daughters (D1 and D2), Policeman (P), and Thief (T).
2. Start by sending the Father and Mother across the river. As they are the ones who know how to operate the raft, they must go first.
3. The Father (F) returns alone to the starting side (without the Mother) and takes one Son (S1) across the river.
4. The Father (F) leaves S1 on the opposite side and takes the Mother (M) back to the starting side.
5. The Mother (M) now takes both Daughters (D1 and D2) across the river.
6. The Mother (M) leaves the Daughters on the opposite side and returns alone to the starting side.
7. The Mother (M) and the Father (F) reunite on the starting side and the Father (F) takes the second Son (S2) across the river.
8. The Father (F) leaves S2 on the opposite side and takes the Mother (M) back to the starting side.
9. The Father (F) now takes the Policeman (P) across the river (as the Thief cannot be left alone with any family member).
10. The Father (F) leaves the Policeman (P) on the opposite side and returns alone to the starting side.
11. The Father (F) and Mother (M) reunite on the starting side and the Father (F) takes the Thief (T) across the river.
12. Finally, the Father (F) returns alone to the starting side and takes the Mother (M) across the river for the last time.
Now, everyone is safely on the other side of the river.