Monday, 18 January 2016

strategy - Rearranging Frogs



This is a small puzzle that I saw a lot as a kid but surprisingly haven't found on this site. Enjoy!




You have six frogs arranged on seven lily pads in a line: three male frogs facing right on the leftmost lily pads and three female frogs facing left on the rightmost lily pads.




M M M _ F F F



How can you switch the positions of the frogs (have the male frogs end up where the female frogs currently sit and vice versa)?


Rules:



  • Each lily pad can hold only one frog.

  • Frogs can only move in the direction they are facing.

  • Frogs can move forward to an empty lily pad or jump over one frog to the empty lily pad on the other side.




Answer



Basic idea:



They need to try to mix perfectly - MFMFMF



Process:



MMM_FFF
MM_MFFF
MMFM_FF

MMFMF_F
MMF_FMF
M_FMFMF
_MFMFMF
FM_MFMF
FMFM_MF
FMFMFM_
FMFMF_M
FMF_FMM
F_FMFMM

FF_MFMM
FFFM_MM
FFF_MMM



Also, I'm also surprised this isn't on the site already in a different form. It's quite possible that I just didn't search for the right terms.


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