Bridge Crossing in Minimal Time

A family is trapped in a jungle. There is a bridge which can lead them to safety. But at one time, the bridge can only allow two people to pass through. Also, all of them are afraid of the dark and thus, they can't go alone.

Father takes 1 minute to cross, the mother takes 2 minutes, the son takes 4 and the daughter takes 5 minutes. While crossing the time taken will be according to the slower one. How can they all reach the other side in the minimum possible time?




Similar Logic Riddles

Three cars are driving on a track that forms a perfect circle and is wide enough that multiple cars can pass anytime. The car that is leading in the race right now is driving at 55 MPH and the car that is trailing at the last is going at 45 MPH. The car that is in the middle is somewhere between these two speeds.
Right now, you can assume that there is a distance of x miles between the leading car and the middle car and x miles between the middle car and the last car and also, x is not equal to 0 or 1.
The cars maintain their speed till the leading car catches up with the last car and then every car stops. In this scenario, do you think of any point when the distance between any two pairs will again be x miles i.e. the pairs will be x distance apart at the same time ?

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How did it happen?

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There is a river to cross using a river raft and there are eight people (father, mother, policeman, thief, 2 daughters and 2 sons). No one knows to operate the raft except the adults and also excluding the thief. Only two people can go in the raft at a time. The raft should keep coming back and forth in order to pick and drop the people.
Rules to be followed:
Father: the father cannot stay in the raft or outside the raft without the presence of the mother.
Mother: the mother cannot stay in the raft or outside the rat without the presence of the father.
Thief: the thief is not allowed to stay with any of the family members unless there is a policeman.
Policeman: the policeman can travel with anyone.
2 sons and 2 daughters: they are not allowed to travel in the raft without the presence of an adult. They cannot either travel in the presence of only thieves without the policeman. The sons cannot be with their mothers without their father's supervision. The daughters are not allowed to be there with their fathers without the supervision of their mothers. But the daughters and the sons can be left unsupervised (as long as the other rules are applied).
What is the sequence that the people should follow in order to cross the river through the raft keeping in mind all the rules?
The rules are applicable not only in the raft but also outside the raft.

Asked by Neha on 14 Aug 2023

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There is a cryptic organization called Cicada 3301 that posts challenging puzzles online, possibly to recruit codebreakers and linguists.