An Integer Programming Solution to the Riddle of the Pilgrims

Keywords

Math, Optimization, Integer Programming, Riddles, Henry Dudeney

Abstract

Henry E. Dudeney is one of the most prolific, talented and best-known math riddle developers of all time. His 1907 publication The Canterbury Puzzles and Other Curious Problems, still in publication, is a classic. One of the riddles titled “The Riddle of the Pilgrims” developed decades before the development of linear and integer programming is a very good example of the challenge of formulating an integer optimization problem. This paper illustrates both the formulation and solution the “Pilgrim’s Riddle” as an integer programming problem.

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