Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Ferrari to the Rescue of Jealousy

Three married couples went on vacation together. They took two cars: a two-seater Ferrari and a family size Toyota Corolla. On the way back, the Toyota Corolla got stuck and all six people found themselves on the road with a two seater car two hours away from home. What to do? Car rental or AAA is not an option in puzzles. Someone has to drive back and forth in two-seater Ferrari to bring everyone back home. Everyone in this group has a drivers license.

The problem is that after all the vacation adventures all three husbands are extremely jealous. None of them would let his wife be in the presence of the other men unless some other woman is also present. How could they all get home?
Assume that family names are: Smith, Jones and Gabrielli.

Enter your thoughts on our Family Puzzle Marathon page. Be first to solve three puzzles and get a prize!

12 comments:

Wang said...

Cool puzzle! Let me give this a shot:

It looks like the basic rule is to always have at least two girls on one side (or the girl has to be with her own husband)

Two husbands get into the car and drive over (say Smith and Jones). Mr. Smith leaves Mr. Jones home and drives back. Mr. Smith and Mr. Gabrielli then drive over. Mr. Smith leaves Mr. Gabrielli home and drives back.

Next Mrs. Jones and Mrs. Gabrielli take the car, leaving Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Mrs. Jones leaves Mrs. Gabrielli home and drives back.

Mrs. Jones is okay since Mrs. Smith is with her.

Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Jones then drive home and Mrs. Jones is dropped off and Mrs. Smith drives back to pick up her husband and both go home (with the Ferrari!)

Unknown said...

Smith and Smith wife go home.
Smith wife returns w/ car.
Jones and Jones wife go home.
Jones wife returns w/ car.
Gabrielli and G wife go home.
Gabrielli wife returns w/ car.
Smith wife and Jones wife go home.
Gabrielli (husband) returns w/ car.
Gabrielli and Gabrielli wife go home.

Maria said...

Both of you are absolutely right.
Assuming that each car ride immediately follows another and no reason for jealousy arises while drivers are swapped, these guys would need a minimum of nine car rides.

In the W.'s scenario, there is one suspicious moment when on the 6th car ride Ms Jones drives back leaving Mr & Ms Gabrielli as well as Mr Jones at home. Theoretically, this could make Mr Gabrielli very jealous as Mr Jones could flirt with Ms Gabrielli in the absence of his wife. However, we could assume that when they arrive, they all go into their own homes. So, Gabriellis may not be under the same roof as Mr Jones.

So, both answers could be considered valid.
As they are different, both W. and Phil get a puzzle point!

New puzzle tomorrow.

Unknown said...

Mr and mrs smith go first.
Mr smith comes back.
Mr smith and mr jones go next.
Mr jones comes back.
Mr and mrs jones go next.
Mr jones comes back.
Mr jones and mr gabrielli go next.
Mr gabrielli comes back.
Mr and mrs gabrielli go next.
mr
mr j

Unknown said...

Please ignore the last two lines in my response.

Maria said...

Phil - please email me your snail mail address and I will send you a prize! maria-at-marialando-dot-com

K K - your answer is right, but it seems to be rather close to Phil's answer. I can't give you a puzzle point. But I will, if you or anyone else will come up with a solution for this specific situation:

Every time Ferrari riders come to either of two stops (place on the road where Toyota stuck or their homes), all the arriving people get out of the car and spend some time with the people at this stop, before somebody is heading back. In that situation all of the above solutions would not be considered valid. For example in Phil's solution after the third ride, Mr and Ms Jones join Mr Smith at home, that would make Mr Jones extremely jealous. Can you create driving arrangements for this case?

Unknown said...

This is what I'm coming up with at first go.

Mr Jones and Mr Gabrielli go first.
Mr Jones comes back.
Mr Jones and Mr Smith go next.
Mr Jones comes back.
Mrs Smith and Mrs Gabrielli go next.
Mr and Mrs Smith come back.
Mrs Jones and Mrs Smith go next.
Mr Gabrielli comes back. (Only the three women are at home now)
Mr Smith and Mr Gabrielli go next.
Mr Gabrielli comes back.
Mr Jones and Mr Gabrielli go next. (Everybody is at home now)

Maria said...

I believe this is valid!
K K - you can be trusted with assigning seats in the US senate.

Unknown said...

Thanks! :o)
Did I just get my first puzzle point?

Maria said...

Yes! See your name in the right column among the Best Puzzle Solvers. Just two more puzzles and you will get a prize.

Anonymous said...

Why not let mrs Jones first take mrs Gabrielli back, return for mrs Smith, come back for mr Jones. Then mr Jones comes back for mr Gabrielli, returning afterwards for mr Smith.

That way any single male or woman is always left with two others of the opposite sex. The only time any male is left alone with any woman it's with his own wife.

Maria said...

Mr Smith would die of jealousy if his wife will stay with him as well as Mr Gabrielli and Mr Jones, while their wives are driving.
See discussion above.

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