# 3 cannibals and 3 missionaries on different side of the river

Three missionaries on the left side of a river and three cannibals on the right side of the river want to cross a river using a boat which can carry at most two people, The boat is on the cannibals side. Under the constraint that, for both banks, if there are missionaries present on the bank, they cannot be outnumbered by cannibals (if they were, the cannibals would eat the missionaries). The boat cannot cross the river by itself with no people on board.

Plan minimum number of trips in such a way that all the cannibals go to the left side and missionaries come to the right side without any bloodshed.

• Possible duplicate of Strategy to solve the Missionaries and Cannibals problem – Ben Aveling Nov 14 '17 at 12:56
• Not a duplicate - the usual formulation (and that used in the putative duplicate) has all 6 people starting on one side and needing to cross to the other side without bloodshed. This problem has them on opposite banks and needing to trade places. – Rubio Nov 14 '17 at 14:09

MMM <C>CC 1C crosses left
MC<MM> CC 2M cross right
MC <MC>MC 1M 1C cross left
CC<MM> MC 2M cross right
CC <C>MMM 1C crosses left
CCC<> MMM