The story of the Minotaur
Mazes are very ancient and appear many times in history. According to ancient legend, Daedalus constructed the so called "Cretan Labyrinth" in Knossos, to house the legendary Minotaur. The Minotaur was a fearsome creature, half man and half bull killed by Theseus in the famous legend in which he escapes using a ball of string provided by Ariadne.
Although we don't have direct evidence in the form of buried walls for the shape of the Cretan Labyrinth, there is a traditional idea about its shape, and a very nice geometrical construction for drawing one. This gives us our first link between mathematics and mazes. You can draw this on paper, or if you are on a beach it looks very good drawn into the sand with the help of a stick. To draw a traditional Cretan Labyrinth, start with the cross and dots on the right.
The picture below shows you how to complete the Cretan Labyrinth. Notice that the when you connect the lines you alternate left and right round the square. Now you can complete the picture.
No comments:
Post a Comment