It's a week before Thanksgiving, and a family is trying to find their turkey. There are 5 boxes in a row, and the turkey is hiding in one of the 5 boxes.

Every day, the family is allowed to check one box to try to find the turkey, and every night, the turkey moves to a box right next to the box it was in. For example, from box 3 it could move to box 2 or 4 , and from box 5 it must move to box 4 . Determine a strategy for the family to catch the turkey before Thanksgiving.

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One strategy is as follows:

First assume the turkey starts in an even numbered box (box 2 or 4). On day 1, check box 2 . If the turkey is not there, he must have been in box 4 to begin with, so tomorrow he will be in box 3 or box 5 . On day 2 , check box 3 . If the turkey is not there, then he must currently be in box 5 (since he started in box 4), so tomorrow he will be in box 4 . Thus, on day 3 , check box 4 .

If he is not there, then the assumption that he began in an even numbered box must have been wrong. Thus, he started in an odd numbered box, which means on day 4 he will be in an even numbered box. Thus, we can repeat the same strategy of checking boxes 2,3 , and 4 on days 4,5 , and 6 , and we are guaranteed to find the turkey in at most 6 days.