Nov 23, 2009
Problem of the Week
for Monday, November 23, 2009
Coco and Charmaine have decided to play a game of 5x5 battleship. Coco has hidden her boat (2 units long) somewhere on the board, and Charmaine will guess its location. What is the fewest nuymber of guesses Charmaine needs to make to guarantee that she will hit Coco's boat no matter where it is? What is the fewest number of guesses she needs to guarantee that she sinks it? (Note: boats can be placed vertically or horizontally on the grid but not diagonally. A guess consists of naming a row letter and column number. The other player responds with either "hit" or "miss." Guessing continues until both of the grid squares of the boat have been guessed.)
