Jugs |
In the movie ``Die Hard 3", Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson were confronted with the following puzzle. They were given a 3-gallon jug and a 5-gallon jug and were asked to fill the 5-gallon jug with exactly 4 gallons. This problem generalizes that puzzle.
You have two jugs, A and B, and an infinite supply of water. There are
three types of actions that
you can use: (1) you can fill a jug, (2) you can empty a jug, and (3) you
can pour from one jug to
the other. Pouring from one jug to the other stops when the first jug is
empty or the second jug is
full, whichever comes first. For example, if A has 5 gallons and B has 6
gallons and a capacity of 8,
then pouring from A to B leaves B full and 3 gallons in A.
A problem is given by a triple (Ca,Cb,N), where Ca and Cb are the capacities of the jugs A and B,
respectively, and N is the goal. A solution is a sequence of steps that
leaves exactly N gallons in jug B. The possible steps are
fill A fill B empty A empty B pour A B pour B A success
where ``pour A B" means ``pour the contents of jug A into jug B", and ``success" means that the goal has been accomplished.
You may assume that the input you are given does have a solution.
3 5 4 5 7 3
fill B pour B A empty A pour B A fill B pour B A success fill A pour A B fill A pour A B empty B pour A B success