Definition:River Crossing Problem/Historical Note

Historical Note on River Crossing Problem

The earliest known occurrences of river crossing problems appear in Propositiones ad Acuendos Juvenes by Alcuin of York.

There appear to be $3$ main types:

$(1): \quad$ A number of jealous men and their sisters, or missionaries and cannibals, where there are constraints on who can be left alone with whom

$(2): \quad$ A person trying to transport livestock and foodstuffs, where there are constraints on which may be left alone with what

$(3): \quad$ A person trying to transport goods or people, where there are constraints on the weight which can be transported at one time.

Various versions of each of these have been published, but apart from a few where the action is set in Africa, all seem to be of European origin.

Sources

• 1992: John Hadley/2 and David Singmaster: Problems to Sharpen the Young (Math. Gazette Vol. 76, no. 475: pp. 102 – 126)  www.jstor.org/stable/3620384