Keeping a ball lost forever The Next CEO of Stack OverflowFour stones on a Go-boardBlock the snake from reaching pointsNumber swapping gameLeast amount of moves is requiredHnefatafl - a lost ArtJonMark Perry's Grid Logic PuzzleGuide the dots to land on the portals at the same timeGuide dots to land on any pair of matching portals at the same time20 cards facing downThe No-Straight Maze

How to make a software documentation "officially" citable?

Is HostGator storing my password in plaintext?

Why do we use the plural of movies in this phrase "We went to the movies last night."?

Why does the UK parliament need a vote on the political declaration?

Beyond letters and diaries—exercises to explore characters' personalities and motivation

Does it take more energy to get to Venus or to Mars?

Different harmonic changes implied by a simple descending scale

My Curious Music Box

Reduce array of object to totals by property object

Was a professor correct to chastise me for writing "Prof. X" rather than "Professor X"?

Only print output after finding pattern

Help understanding this unsettling image of Titan, Epimetheus, and Saturn's rings?

How to count occurrences of text in a file?

What benefits would be gained by using human laborers instead of drones in deep sea mining?

Disadvantage of gaining multiple level at once in short milestone-XP game

WOW air has ceased operation, can I get my tickets refunded?

I believe this to be a fraud - hired, then asked to cash check and send cash as Bitcoin

Example of a Mathematician/Physicist whose Other Publications during their PhD eclipsed their PhD Thesis

Why is the US ranked as #45 in Press Freedom ratings, despite its extremely permissive free speech laws?

Is it my responsibility to learn a new technology in my own time my employer wants to implement?

Grabbing quick drinks

How can I quit an app using Terminal?

What do "high sea" and "carry" mean in this sentence?

Tiptoe or tiphoof? Adjusting words to better fit fantasy races



Keeping a ball lost forever



The Next CEO of Stack OverflowFour stones on a Go-boardBlock the snake from reaching pointsNumber swapping gameLeast amount of moves is requiredHnefatafl - a lost ArtJonMark Perry's Grid Logic PuzzleGuide the dots to land on the portals at the same timeGuide dots to land on any pair of matching portals at the same time20 cards facing downThe No-Straight Maze










13












$begingroup$


Suppose you can make a rectangular maze, where each cell (apart from the bottom-right) can contain an arrow in one of the four directions (up, down, left or right) of your choosing, except for those on an edge or corner, which must not point out of the maze.



A ball is then placed into the top-left square and begins to move. It will move in the direction of the arrow in the cell that it is currently in. Then, that arrow will rotate 90 degrees clockwise. If an arrow is pointing out of the maze, it will continue rotating clockwise until it points in a valid direction.



A valid maze is one in which the ball will never reach the bottom-right corner.




Prove or disprove the existence of such a maze. If it exists, find the smallest possible maze (in terms of number of squares).





Here is an example of a maze.



An example of a 2x2 maze. Top-left (A1) has arrow pointing right, top-right (A2) is pointing left, lower-left (B1) is pointing up.



  • The ball begins in A1. It moves right to A2, and the A1 arrow rotates to point down.

  • The ball moves left to A1, and the A2 arrow rotates to point down (as both up and right point out of the maze).

  • The ball moves down to B1, and the A1 arrow rotates to point right (as both left and up point out of the maze).

  • The ball moves up to A1, and the B1 arrow rotates to point right.

  • The ball moves right to A2, and the A1 arrow rotates to point down.

  • The ball moves down to B2, and the A2 arrow rotates to point left.

  • Now, the ball is in B2, the bottom-right corner of the maze, so that is the end. It is not a valid maze, but if it were, it would have a score of $4$.









share|improve this question









$endgroup$
















    13












    $begingroup$


    Suppose you can make a rectangular maze, where each cell (apart from the bottom-right) can contain an arrow in one of the four directions (up, down, left or right) of your choosing, except for those on an edge or corner, which must not point out of the maze.



    A ball is then placed into the top-left square and begins to move. It will move in the direction of the arrow in the cell that it is currently in. Then, that arrow will rotate 90 degrees clockwise. If an arrow is pointing out of the maze, it will continue rotating clockwise until it points in a valid direction.



    A valid maze is one in which the ball will never reach the bottom-right corner.




    Prove or disprove the existence of such a maze. If it exists, find the smallest possible maze (in terms of number of squares).





    Here is an example of a maze.



    An example of a 2x2 maze. Top-left (A1) has arrow pointing right, top-right (A2) is pointing left, lower-left (B1) is pointing up.



    • The ball begins in A1. It moves right to A2, and the A1 arrow rotates to point down.

    • The ball moves left to A1, and the A2 arrow rotates to point down (as both up and right point out of the maze).

    • The ball moves down to B1, and the A1 arrow rotates to point right (as both left and up point out of the maze).

    • The ball moves up to A1, and the B1 arrow rotates to point right.

    • The ball moves right to A2, and the A1 arrow rotates to point down.

    • The ball moves down to B2, and the A2 arrow rotates to point left.

    • Now, the ball is in B2, the bottom-right corner of the maze, so that is the end. It is not a valid maze, but if it were, it would have a score of $4$.









    share|improve this question









    $endgroup$














      13












      13








      13





      $begingroup$


      Suppose you can make a rectangular maze, where each cell (apart from the bottom-right) can contain an arrow in one of the four directions (up, down, left or right) of your choosing, except for those on an edge or corner, which must not point out of the maze.



      A ball is then placed into the top-left square and begins to move. It will move in the direction of the arrow in the cell that it is currently in. Then, that arrow will rotate 90 degrees clockwise. If an arrow is pointing out of the maze, it will continue rotating clockwise until it points in a valid direction.



      A valid maze is one in which the ball will never reach the bottom-right corner.




      Prove or disprove the existence of such a maze. If it exists, find the smallest possible maze (in terms of number of squares).





      Here is an example of a maze.



      An example of a 2x2 maze. Top-left (A1) has arrow pointing right, top-right (A2) is pointing left, lower-left (B1) is pointing up.



      • The ball begins in A1. It moves right to A2, and the A1 arrow rotates to point down.

      • The ball moves left to A1, and the A2 arrow rotates to point down (as both up and right point out of the maze).

      • The ball moves down to B1, and the A1 arrow rotates to point right (as both left and up point out of the maze).

      • The ball moves up to A1, and the B1 arrow rotates to point right.

      • The ball moves right to A2, and the A1 arrow rotates to point down.

      • The ball moves down to B2, and the A2 arrow rotates to point left.

      • Now, the ball is in B2, the bottom-right corner of the maze, so that is the end. It is not a valid maze, but if it were, it would have a score of $4$.









      share|improve this question









      $endgroup$




      Suppose you can make a rectangular maze, where each cell (apart from the bottom-right) can contain an arrow in one of the four directions (up, down, left or right) of your choosing, except for those on an edge or corner, which must not point out of the maze.



      A ball is then placed into the top-left square and begins to move. It will move in the direction of the arrow in the cell that it is currently in. Then, that arrow will rotate 90 degrees clockwise. If an arrow is pointing out of the maze, it will continue rotating clockwise until it points in a valid direction.



      A valid maze is one in which the ball will never reach the bottom-right corner.




      Prove or disprove the existence of such a maze. If it exists, find the smallest possible maze (in terms of number of squares).





      Here is an example of a maze.



      An example of a 2x2 maze. Top-left (A1) has arrow pointing right, top-right (A2) is pointing left, lower-left (B1) is pointing up.



      • The ball begins in A1. It moves right to A2, and the A1 arrow rotates to point down.

      • The ball moves left to A1, and the A2 arrow rotates to point down (as both up and right point out of the maze).

      • The ball moves down to B1, and the A1 arrow rotates to point right (as both left and up point out of the maze).

      • The ball moves up to A1, and the B1 arrow rotates to point right.

      • The ball moves right to A2, and the A1 arrow rotates to point down.

      • The ball moves down to B2, and the A2 arrow rotates to point left.

      • Now, the ball is in B2, the bottom-right corner of the maze, so that is the end. It is not a valid maze, but if it were, it would have a score of $4$.






      logical-deduction strategy optimization






      share|improve this question













      share|improve this question











      share|improve this question




      share|improve this question










      asked Mar 22 at 21:39









      ZanyGZanyG

      1,143421




      1,143421




















          1 Answer
          1






          active

          oldest

          votes


















          22












          $begingroup$


          Suppose such a maze exists. Then the balls visits at least one square infinitely many times. Let $S$ be one such square that is closest to the bottom-right. $S$ is not the bottom-right square, so there exists a square $T$ to the right of or below $S$ that is closer to the bottom-right than $S$ is. However, the ball must visit $T$ at least once every $4$ visits to $S$ due to arrow rotation. Therefore, the ball must also visit $T$ infinitely many times, contradicting the minimality of $S$. Then no such maze exists.







          share|improve this answer









          $endgroup$












          • $begingroup$
            Very succinct; well done. I'll wait a bit before accepting.
            $endgroup$
            – ZanyG
            Mar 22 at 21:50






          • 1




            $begingroup$
            This(Q&A) probably belongs into mathematics.stackexchange.com ?
            $endgroup$
            – LMD
            Mar 23 at 12:15











          Your Answer





          StackExchange.ifUsing("editor", function ()
          return StackExchange.using("mathjaxEditing", function ()
          StackExchange.MarkdownEditor.creationCallbacks.add(function (editor, postfix)
          StackExchange.mathjaxEditing.prepareWmdForMathJax(editor, postfix, [["$", "$"], ["\\(","\\)"]]);
          );
          );
          , "mathjax-editing");

          StackExchange.ready(function()
          var channelOptions =
          tags: "".split(" "),
          id: "559"
          ;
          initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

          StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function()
          // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
          if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled)
          StackExchange.using("snippets", function()
          createEditor();
          );

          else
          createEditor();

          );

          function createEditor()
          StackExchange.prepareEditor(
          heartbeatType: 'answer',
          autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
          convertImagesToLinks: false,
          noModals: true,
          showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
          reputationToPostImages: null,
          bindNavPrevention: true,
          postfix: "",
          imageUploader:
          brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
          contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
          allowUrls: true
          ,
          noCode: true, onDemand: true,
          discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
          ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
          );



          );













          draft saved

          draft discarded


















          StackExchange.ready(
          function ()
          StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fpuzzling.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f80948%2fkeeping-a-ball-lost-forever%23new-answer', 'question_page');

          );

          Post as a guest















          Required, but never shown

























          1 Answer
          1






          active

          oldest

          votes








          1 Answer
          1






          active

          oldest

          votes









          active

          oldest

          votes






          active

          oldest

          votes









          22












          $begingroup$


          Suppose such a maze exists. Then the balls visits at least one square infinitely many times. Let $S$ be one such square that is closest to the bottom-right. $S$ is not the bottom-right square, so there exists a square $T$ to the right of or below $S$ that is closer to the bottom-right than $S$ is. However, the ball must visit $T$ at least once every $4$ visits to $S$ due to arrow rotation. Therefore, the ball must also visit $T$ infinitely many times, contradicting the minimality of $S$. Then no such maze exists.







          share|improve this answer









          $endgroup$












          • $begingroup$
            Very succinct; well done. I'll wait a bit before accepting.
            $endgroup$
            – ZanyG
            Mar 22 at 21:50






          • 1




            $begingroup$
            This(Q&A) probably belongs into mathematics.stackexchange.com ?
            $endgroup$
            – LMD
            Mar 23 at 12:15















          22












          $begingroup$


          Suppose such a maze exists. Then the balls visits at least one square infinitely many times. Let $S$ be one such square that is closest to the bottom-right. $S$ is not the bottom-right square, so there exists a square $T$ to the right of or below $S$ that is closer to the bottom-right than $S$ is. However, the ball must visit $T$ at least once every $4$ visits to $S$ due to arrow rotation. Therefore, the ball must also visit $T$ infinitely many times, contradicting the minimality of $S$. Then no such maze exists.







          share|improve this answer









          $endgroup$












          • $begingroup$
            Very succinct; well done. I'll wait a bit before accepting.
            $endgroup$
            – ZanyG
            Mar 22 at 21:50






          • 1




            $begingroup$
            This(Q&A) probably belongs into mathematics.stackexchange.com ?
            $endgroup$
            – LMD
            Mar 23 at 12:15













          22












          22








          22





          $begingroup$


          Suppose such a maze exists. Then the balls visits at least one square infinitely many times. Let $S$ be one such square that is closest to the bottom-right. $S$ is not the bottom-right square, so there exists a square $T$ to the right of or below $S$ that is closer to the bottom-right than $S$ is. However, the ball must visit $T$ at least once every $4$ visits to $S$ due to arrow rotation. Therefore, the ball must also visit $T$ infinitely many times, contradicting the minimality of $S$. Then no such maze exists.







          share|improve this answer









          $endgroup$




          Suppose such a maze exists. Then the balls visits at least one square infinitely many times. Let $S$ be one such square that is closest to the bottom-right. $S$ is not the bottom-right square, so there exists a square $T$ to the right of or below $S$ that is closer to the bottom-right than $S$ is. However, the ball must visit $T$ at least once every $4$ visits to $S$ due to arrow rotation. Therefore, the ball must also visit $T$ infinitely many times, contradicting the minimality of $S$. Then no such maze exists.








          share|improve this answer












          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer










          answered Mar 22 at 21:47









          noednenoedne

          8,02212261




          8,02212261











          • $begingroup$
            Very succinct; well done. I'll wait a bit before accepting.
            $endgroup$
            – ZanyG
            Mar 22 at 21:50






          • 1




            $begingroup$
            This(Q&A) probably belongs into mathematics.stackexchange.com ?
            $endgroup$
            – LMD
            Mar 23 at 12:15
















          • $begingroup$
            Very succinct; well done. I'll wait a bit before accepting.
            $endgroup$
            – ZanyG
            Mar 22 at 21:50






          • 1




            $begingroup$
            This(Q&A) probably belongs into mathematics.stackexchange.com ?
            $endgroup$
            – LMD
            Mar 23 at 12:15















          $begingroup$
          Very succinct; well done. I'll wait a bit before accepting.
          $endgroup$
          – ZanyG
          Mar 22 at 21:50




          $begingroup$
          Very succinct; well done. I'll wait a bit before accepting.
          $endgroup$
          – ZanyG
          Mar 22 at 21:50




          1




          1




          $begingroup$
          This(Q&A) probably belongs into mathematics.stackexchange.com ?
          $endgroup$
          – LMD
          Mar 23 at 12:15




          $begingroup$
          This(Q&A) probably belongs into mathematics.stackexchange.com ?
          $endgroup$
          – LMD
          Mar 23 at 12:15

















          draft saved

          draft discarded
















































          Thanks for contributing an answer to Puzzling Stack Exchange!


          • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

          But avoid


          • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

          • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.

          Use MathJax to format equations. MathJax reference.


          To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




          draft saved


          draft discarded














          StackExchange.ready(
          function ()
          StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fpuzzling.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f80948%2fkeeping-a-ball-lost-forever%23new-answer', 'question_page');

          );

          Post as a guest















          Required, but never shown





















































          Required, but never shown














          Required, but never shown












          Required, but never shown







          Required, but never shown

































          Required, but never shown














          Required, but never shown












          Required, but never shown







          Required, but never shown







          Popular posts from this blog

          Adding axes to figuresAdding axes labels to LaTeX figuresLaTeX equivalent of ConTeXt buffersRotate a node but not its content: the case of the ellipse decorationHow to define the default vertical distance between nodes?TikZ scaling graphic and adjust node position and keep font sizeNumerical conditional within tikz keys?adding axes to shapesAlign axes across subfiguresAdding figures with a certain orderLine up nested tikz enviroments or how to get rid of themAdding axes labels to LaTeX figures

          Luettelo Yhdysvaltain laivaston lentotukialuksista Lähteet | Navigointivalikko

          Gary (muusikko) Sisällysluettelo Historia | Rockin' High | Lähteet | Aiheesta muualla | NavigointivalikkoInfobox OKTuomas "Gary" Keskinen Ancaran kitaristiksiProjekti Rockin' High