Page:Amusements in mathematics.djvu/145

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MAZES AND HOW TO THREAD THEM.
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acre of ground; but it was, unfortunately, ploughed up in 1730.

Fig. 19.—Maze at Pimperne, Dorset.

We will now pass to the interesting subject of how to thread any maze. While being necessarily brief, I will try to make the matter clear to readers who have no knowledge of mathematics. And first of all we will assume that we are trying to enter a maze (that is, get to the "centre") of which we have no plan and about which we know nothing. The first rule is this: If a maze has no parts of its hedges detached from the rest, then if we always keep in touch with the hedge with the right hand (or always touch it with the left), going down to the stop in every blind alley and coming back on the other side, we shall pass through every part of

Fig. 20.—M. Trémaux's Method of Solution.

the maze and make our exit where we went in. Therefore we must at one time or another enter the centre, and every alley will be traversed twice.

Now look at the Hampton Court plan. Follow, say to the right, the path indicated by the

Fig. 21.—How to thread the Hatfield Maze.