Cross a Rope Bridge in 17 minutes

rope-bridgeFour people need to cross a rickety rope bridge to get back to their camp at night. Unfortunately, they only have one flashlight and it only has enough light left for seventeen minutes. The bridge is too dangerous to cross without a flashlight, and it’s only strong enough to support two people at any given time.
Each of the campers walks at a different speed. One can cross the bridge in 1 minute, another in 2 minutes, the third in 5 minutes, and the slow poke takes 10 minutes to cross. How do the campers make it across in 17 minutes?

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    6 Comments

    1. The 1 minute carries the 10 minute (1 minute)
      comes back (2 minutes)
      1 minute carries the 5 minute (3 minutes)
      comes back (4 minutes)
      1 minute walks with the 2 minute as the 2 minute holds the flashlight coz the 1 minute is tired as heck (6 minutes sharp)

      The flashlight is good for another 11 minutes Sharp. whats the riddle? too much over-engineered answers. The riddle needs more detail.

    2. very nice dwayne
      1 and 2 – 2mins
      ______
      1 returns – 3mins

      5 and 10 – 13mins
      _______
      2 returns – 15mins

      1 and 2 – 17mins SHARP

      very nice, had this problem in my book in my algorithms class, book by Levitiin

    3. 1 and 2 go across witih the flashlight, 1 returns (Elapsed time 3 minutes.)
      5 and 10 go across (13 minutes), give the flashlight to 2. 2 returns (15 minutes). 2 and 1 cross (17 minutes).
      Then 10 realizes he has extra batteries in his pocket!

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