Conference rusure::math

766.0. "BACK FROM THE KLONDIKE? don't look in Sci Am!" by GLINKA::GREENE () Thu Oct 08 1987 18:17

    note 764.3 reminds me...
    
    Anyone here familiar with Sam Lloyd's "Back from the Klondike"
    maze puzzle?  Well, the solution was claimed to be unique, and
    for ~100 years that claim was not challenged.
    
    Also, the puzzle was presumably written originally to "foil"
    Euler's method (of working backwards).
    
    Well, it turns out that
    
    	a.  The solution is NOT unique (and this item gets
    		even more interesting), and
    	
    	b.  The only reasonable way to solve it IS backwards --
    		forwards would blow up.
    
    If anyone is good at entering a maze-like-a-crosswork puzzle, we
    can put it here.  Or Eric, have you got a camera to make another
    pretty picture like your visage???
    
    This was fun:  actually stumbled upon (a) and (b) above while
    writing a FORTRAN program to solve it.
    
    Martin Gardner published this in one of his columns about 10 years
    ago, so if you peek, DON'T tell others.
    
    	Penelope