Cut the Knot

Manisha sent me the link to Cut-the-knot.org today and Supriya and I spent some time there. Lots of cool stuff. We worked on three problems of strategy, something Supriya is good at and generally enjoys:

• Toads and frogs: Supriya got stuck a couple of times and then cracked it. I increased the number of frogs and toads to 5 each (the max) and she got that also. We ended up generalizing the solution (get the frogs and toads to alternate, simply put).
• Towers of Hanoi: I had written about this when we visited the Museum of Science just about a year ago. Supriya went to work on it as if she knew the answer - and she did! I was amazed at her recall ability. She first zoomed through the 4 ring default problem. Then I increased the number to 10 (the max). She went all the way to transferring 5 rings and then stopped, complaining about her fingers hurting from all the mouse-clicking!
• Goat, cabbage and wolf: This is an interesting problem and Supriya was stuck until I gave her the hint. The solution was trivial after that!