Talk:Maze

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Where did that definition of labyrinth came from? That's not the common definition. --Voodoo 23:30, 18 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Contents 1 Maze by Christoher Manson 2 Maze versus labyrinth 3 dab Maize 4 Fair use image 5 Pledge algorithm 6 3d maze solving

[edit] Maze by Christoher Manson

This is not advertising, since the book is long out of print and the Web sites do not contain advertising. Please restore this material as this is a very popular puzzle book. Canon 19:57, 22 January 2006 (UTC)

OK Canon, I have restored it. If the material is of use to people other than the promoters of the book, then I guess it deserves to stay. I'm sorry to have deleted it so hastily. --Heron 20:58, 22 January 2006 (UTC)

Thanks very much. Canon 00:20, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Maze versus labyrinth

Does someone want to back up the claim made in the opening paragraph that a maze is different from a labyrinth? If not it is both wrong and a distraction. Canon 23:41, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

The terms "maze" and "labyrinth" seem to have been used interchangeably for centuries, and still are. However, since this topic began to be the subject of scholarship and comparative theorising, scholars have needed to differentiate between the entertaining puzzle (in which one gets lost in dead-ends), and the unicursal type (which takes just one, very convoluted, path to its centre). They have settled upon "maze" for the former and "labyrinth" for the latter: see the reading list and many of the external links cited for examples of this usage. Admittedly it can be confusing for non-specialists and specialists alike (eg most of the structures generally known as turf mazes are unicursal labyrinths); perhaps this distinction needs to be summarised in the introductions to both the Maze and Labyrinth pages. SiGarb | Talk 22:23, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

I did as you recommended and the earliest mention of a difference in the meanings occurs in the book by Matthews (1922):

We might perhaps point out that a slight shade of difference may be assumed to exist between "labyrinth" and "maze," even when these words are used in their metaphorical sense. We may take "labyrinth" to signify a complex problem involving merely time and perseverance for its solution, "maze," on the other hand, being reserved for situations fraught, in addition, with the elements of uncertainty and ambiguity, calling for the exercise of the higher mental faculties--in short, we may regard the two words as having reference respectively to the unicursal and multicursal types of plan (see Introduction). A distinction of this kind adds point to a sentence like that which occurs, for instance, in Mr. Lytton Strachey's "Queen Victoria," where he tells us (p. 178) that the Prince Consort "attempted to thread his way through the complicated labyrinth of European diplomacy, and was eventually lost in the maze."

This looks like an example of the refinement of meaning that occurs in many disciplines (e.g., the words "force" and "energy" mean something to a physicist that is much more precise than the meanings of these words to the non-physicist). I agree that this needs to be spelled out in the introduction, which at the moment is off-putting to non-specialists. Perhaps something like:

Specialists use the term "labyrinth" to refer to paths that do not branch and "maze" to refer to paths that do branch.

I would make this change myself but as a non-specialist I think it is inappropriate for me to speak for specialists. Canon 01:11, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

I think the distinction between branching and non-branching for maze and labyrinth should be made early. It is easy to grasp and remember. Stephen B Streater 06:55, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

I always learned that a maze has branches and is designed to be difficult to navigate, and labyrinths have a single, non-branching path. I don't have any sources to back this up, except for experience. I learned that labyrinths were used for spiritual purposes, and they were always a curving path that led to a center region, and the center represented God, and the curving path represents a spiritual journey. Labyrinths also (I think) usually come out the way that they came in, where as a maze usually involves going from point A to point B. At least that's always what I believed. --Sbrools ^{(talk . contribs)} 03:40, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] dab Maize

I wouln´t quarrell if my edit was reverted. But see Talk:Maize first. --Ezeu 08:26, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Fair use image

It has been disputed if the of an image in this article, Image:Rats running around in a maze.png, qualifies as fair use. Please add a fair use rationale to the image description page, explaining why the image quallifies as fair use. --Fritz Saalfeld (Talk) 09:02, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Pledge algorithm

Who is Jon Pledge of Exeter? Does he exist? Does anybody know? - RTH 17:28, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

I wonder. It's been around since this edit [1] in 2004, made by an editor whose other contributions (most of which are made in 2004) seem quite sensible. However, googling for "Jon Pledge" mostly gives hits that are either totally unrelated to mazes, or that are mirrors of en.wikipedia. An independent source would be really good here! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Noe (talk • contribs) 17:47, 13 November 2006.

It should be removed. I am tagging it as unsourced in the time being. --Ezeu 23:55, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

However, there seems to be a related result in searching mazes based on a grid, with a quite similar approach, keeping track of your turns and counting the number of grid squares you have passed. M. Blum, D. Kozen. On the power of the compass (or, why mazes are easier to search than graphs), in: Proceedings 19th FOCS (Annual Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science), 132--142, 1978. Jochgem 13:43, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

So called "Pledge" and other algorithms will work in computer programs, but only experts are able to use them - the paragraph should be removed. The "wall-follower" method (simple, but restricted) and the Trémaux method (more difficult) are the only algorithms that work in reality, too. (The explanation of the Trémaux method under [1] is not correct!) - It would be a good idea to separate the more mathematical problems of mazes from the history of the traditional hedge maze. Nowadays mazes seem to be very British... but the (puzzle) hedge maze is an old element of garden design, first developped during the late Renaissance in Italy. (Try to read "my" article de:Irrgarten) -- RTH 16:27, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] 3d maze solving

Hi all. Is anybody aware of either positive or negative results for 3d maze solving? (I understand this question is maybe slightly off topic, but thanks anyway for any info.) Regards,--Powo 13:23, 2 February 2007 (UTC)