Knight's swap
Problem
Swap the stars with the moons, using only knights' moves (as on a chess board).
What's the smallest number of moves possible? (Only once piece can occupy a single square at a time.)
Getting Started
How will you record what you've done?
Student Solutions
Several people decided that 16 moves were needed to swap the
stars and moons. The really interesting part is the ways they
invented to tell us what the moves were ...
Joshua (Brooklands
Primary School, Suffolk) numbered the squares 1 to 9 like this:
He says, "I could do the swap of the moons and stars in 16 moves:
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Thomas (Tattingstone School, UK) used the game-board like a map grid.
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Jaimee (Tattingstone School, UK) gave each square a letter and called the Stars S1 and S2, and the Moons M1 and M2.
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