please help me with this riddle.

[mowgli]

ok, this is an old riddle. its about a thousand years old. it is documented in most modern cultures.

here goes...

a farmer has a fox, a goose & a bag of beans. he needs to get across a river, but the boat can only carry him & one other item... obviously, he can't leave the fox & goose together, or the goose will die. also he can't leave the goose & beans together, or the beans will get eaten...

what is the smallest number of trips he can take to cross the river with all three ???

I am asking this because I saw it on a tv show last week (death in paradise), and me & the kids had some fun with it.. I then went on wiki & corrected the 'official' answer.. I have been having a running battle for the last week with this person who thinks that because I can't find 'my' solution printed in some encyclopaedia, it is not a real answer...

so folks, give it a little time & some thought & lets see what you come up with

thanks..

[Peredur]

I come up with 7 crossings

Goose over
Back empty
Fox over
Goose back
Beans over
Back empty
Goose over

[SGA33]

I get 7 crossings as well but your edit on wiki had me laughing.lol

[bazzap8389]

I come up with 7 crossings


You mean wikipedia came up with 7 crossings lol

[mowgli]

I came up with a lot less than 7, so keep working...

[SGA33]

Bag of beans thrown over then fox over then goose over so thats 3.
Even the misses is trying to work out ways.

[bazzap8389]

Throw the beans, make the goose fly over and take the fox on the boat.

[Stuart]

I see no wiki edit.

id love to see your "lot" less than 7

[mowgli]

i'll keep it going for a while longer......lol

[Jack]

Surely the farmer would shoot the fox? lol

[Stuart]

Read the edits..... Attaching the goose and fox with leads to the boat is a pretty shoddy attempt to try and look clever to be honest.

[mowgli]

Surely the farmer would shoot the fox? lol

tbh I did wonder why he would have a live fox... but its part of the riddle

[mowgli]

Read the edits..... Attaching the goose and fox with leads to the boat is a pretty shoddy attempt to try and look clever to be honest.

well, he would have needed leads to get them to the river, both animals can swim, and it keeps the beans dry, so I think its a valid answer to the riddle....

[Stuart]

Might be valid, but its not right or in the spirit... But I sure you'd like to go and start merry hell at yer kids school if they gave that answer and the teacher told them its wrong.

[Pistol Pete]

Grows a beanstalk and uses that and the boat to cross?

[Spudly]

Buys #Racecar, drives round and leaves the fox to eat the chicken, then comes back to shoot the fox, and has chicken stuffed, roast fox for tea lol

[Andy]

the question is.....WHAT DOES THE FOX SAY????????

[therealnovaboy]

Five times and he would have crossed the river with all three and everything would be alive.

[mowgli]

Might be valid, but its not right or in the spirit... But I sure you'd like to go and start merry hell at yer kids school if they gave that answer and the teacher told them its wrong.

Stu, its a riddle, not a maths problem... there is always a sneaky answer to a riddle, that's the whole point of it.

My kids are taught to check things, and not blindly go along with the official answers.. middle daughter actually did a history project recently & afterwards, leant her source books to the teacher, cos they were better thas his.

Stu, your tribe is/are(I can't remember) not old enough to realise some of the shoddy teaching methods that occur....
we had an incident where our eldest daughter had a printed off maths problem sheet for homework. one of the problems was unsolvable. our friend (who's daughter was in the same class) went as far as asking someone with a maths degree to look at it & then they sent a snotty letter to the teacher.

[Benn]

Can the fox swin with the beans.
Farmer carries the Goose over...

One/two trips?

[deneil_gsi2000]

If the goose swam he could eat the beans himself and take the fox with him. Doesn't state how the beans get across.
1 trip

[jimbob-mcgrew]

eat all 3, and then cross

[rubachuk]

He should have bought a tin of beans. As far as I'm aware, a goose cannot operate a tin opener.

Edit - Google confirms a goose cannot use a tin opener.

[mowgli]

/\ lol lol