Let’s get right down to the problem… You have 3 people who are on an island. We’ll call them Luke, John, and Matthew. Unfortunately, they have to leave. Maybe they’ve run out of food, maybe the island is burning down, or maybe they just need a change of scenery. We don’t know why, and it doesn’t matter. The point is, they need to travel to another island which is miles and miles away. The good news is that they have a boat. Their boat can hold up to 200 pounds in weight. This creates a problem though because:

• Luke is 100 pounds
• John is 100 pounds
• Matthew is 200 pounds

Obviously, they cannot go all at once, or the boat will sink. This means the boat is going to have to make more than 1 trip. So the question is… how do they all get to the other island?

Scroll down for hints. The answer is at the end.

Spend a little while trying to solve it. If you are not sure, scroll down for more hints.

Hint: The boat will make a total of 5 trips (3 of them to the new island, and 2 of them back to the old one)

Hint: (part of the answer) – For the first trip, Luke and John will take the boat to the new island.

Hint: (part of the answer) – For the second trip, Luke will take the boat back to the old island.

Answer:

Luke and John take the boat to the new island. Luke drops off John at the new island, and then Luke takes the boat back to the old island. Luke gets off at the old island, while Matthew takes the boat to the new island by himself. Matthew gets off at the new island. John gets on the boat by himself and goes to the old island, picks up Luke, and then John and Luke travel to the new island.

Pictures are below to help make it clear! Click a thumbnail and then use the arrows to navigate.