Sunday, May 8, 2016

Were you thinking of using the fastest person who takes one minute to travel to and fro till everyone has reached the other end? Yes that can be done but it will take 10 + 1 + 7 + 1 + 2 = 21 minutes in total.

If we pay attention towards finding a way to merge the one taking 7 minutes and the one taking 10 minutes, we will have to acknowledge the fact that one of them will also have to return back which will take much more time than 21 minutes.

What if we use the person taking 2 minutes to escort the one taking 1 minutes across? Let's come to the conclusion:

1 and 2 cross the bridge
2 returns with the torch
7 and 10 cross the bridge
1 comes back
1 and 2 cross the bridge

In such a manner, the total time taken will be 
2 + 2 + 10 + 1 + 2 = 17 minutes.

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