Brain Teasers
Crossed Crocodiles
On a recent visit to the local Crocodile Rehabilitation Unit I took a photo of the rectangular area where several were kept to recover from injuries.
There was at least one very large crocodile in each of the four corners of the area. Opposite each crocodile were three crocodiles, and at each crocodile's tail lay at least one crocodile.
What is the smallest number of crocodiles that would make this photo description possible?
There was at least one very large crocodile in each of the four corners of the area. Opposite each crocodile were three crocodiles, and at each crocodile's tail lay at least one crocodile.
What is the smallest number of crocodiles that would make this photo description possible?
Hint
It was not a very large area.Answer
Four crocodiles were in my photo. Each one was in a corner of the floor, facing the corner.Thus, each crocodile was opposite three others (either across or diagonally). The area was small enough so that their tails were almost touching as they pondered their escape!
The diagram below illustrates this solution.
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Comments
I don't get this as the comment of each crocodile's tail being next to 'one more' crocodile told me it was not the one belonging to the same croc...
Thanks, fishmed - I meant "one more" in the sense of one other crocodile. However, I have asked the editors to remove the word "more" from the second paragraph. Hopefully, that will remove the ambiguity and improve the puzzle.
I got this one straight away. Nice and easy this early in the morning!
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