March 2012
Problem of the Month

Mazematics
by Adrian Fisher in GAMES



Solve the maze by moving from the entrance marked START to the goal in the center (where the question mark is), using no path more than once and never backtracking.

When you reach a mathematical operation, recalculate your running score; it must always be a positive whole number.

For example, you begin with a total of 2 as shown in the entrance.   If you next go left to the x3, your running total would be 6.   But if you went right to x2, your running total would be 4.

You may submit your solution in the form:
2 x4 -5 /3 ... x6 = 18
showing each operation and the final answer.


HINT: In order to reach the goal, your number must be either a perfect square or a multiple of 13.


Solution to the Problem:

2 x2 +7 -2 x5 /3 x5 +8 -5 /13 = 6



Chad Fore submitted another solution to the maze that I didn't see:
2 x3 -2 +6 +6 -2 +7 +10 x5 +9 -2 +7 /13 = 13



Correctly solved by:

1. Blace Martin Mountain View High School,
Mountain View, Wyoming
2. Chad Fore Gate City, Virginia
3. McKinna Salsbury Mountain View High School,
Mountain View, Wyoming
4. Halee Salsbury Mountain View High School,
Mountain View, Wyoming
5. Cami Micheli Mountain View High School,
Mountain View, Wyoming
6. Josey Pitts Mountain View High School,
Mountain View, Wyoming
7. Felicia Lopez Mountain View High School,
Mountain View, Wyoming
8. Erin Watson Mountain View High School,
Mountain View, Wyoming
9. Christian Hutter Taylor, Michigan
10. Karsten Hauf Mountain View High School,
Mountain View, Wyoming
11. Alex Kubinski Taylor, Michigan


Send any comments or questions to: David Pleacher