NonTraditional Lilypads
3 frogs are sitting on 3 of four lily pads in a line, leaving one unoccupied, as shown below:
A frog can only move to the empty lily pad either
- by jumping to it if the frog is immediately next to the empty lily pad, or
- by leaping over one frog if the frog is two seats away from the empty lily pad.
What is the least number of moves required in total for all the frogs to arrange themselves in the following configuration?
by
Agnishom Chattopadhyay