Interview question that stumped me.

[Aiten]

I had an interview today, it went well. The usual test, then interview. I managed to ace their test in under two mins before I stumbled upon their last question. For the life of me I can't work it out. Please tell me I am not going crazy.

4 people have to cross the river.
1 or 2 people can cross the river at one time.
The 4 people have one baton to share, and whoever is crossing must have the baton on them.
The baton needs to be walked back over, and cannot be thrown.
The faster person, walks across at the slower person's speed.

Person 1: 1 Min
Person 2: 2 Min
Person 3: 5 Min
Person 4: 10 Min

This has to be done in under 17 mins.
Example, Person 1 and 4 cross in 10 mins. Person 4 walks back with the baton, 20 mins has passed, therefore failed.

[fade2grey]

did it say that all 4 people have to end up on the other side or that there must be 4 crossings

I got the pretty obvious 19mins on the face of it.. id be interested to know the answer though

[Aiten]

The actual question was U2 needed to cross the river to play at a gig in 17 minutes, it was dark, so the crossing needed a flash light. I changed it to people, and a baton, so we could remove some of the cheese

[randlemarcus]

1 + 2 >>>
2<<<
3 + 4 >>>
1 <<<
1 + 2 >>>

job jobbed

[Aiten]

Thank you! That's been bugging me all day.