{"id":161,"date":"2012-07-15T15:04:09","date_gmt":"2012-07-15T19:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/?p=161"},"modified":"2015-07-25T13:10:07","modified_gmt":"2015-07-25T17:10:07","slug":"challenging-a-century-old-conundrum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/2012\/07\/15\/challenging-a-century-old-conundrum\/","title":{"rendered":"Conundrum Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/umwwebmaster.wpengine.com\/greatminds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2012\/04\/Keith-Mellinger-4.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"171\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/keith-mellinger-4\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2012\/04\/Keith-Mellinger-4.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"3000,1583\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;2&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Canon EOS 5D Mark II&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1332240351&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;50&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;800&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.0125&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Keith Mellinger 4\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2012\/04\/Keith-Mellinger-4-300x158.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2012\/04\/Keith-Mellinger-4-1024x540.jpg\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-171\" src=\"http:\/\/umwwebmaster.wpengine.com\/greatminds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2012\/04\/Keith-Mellinger-4-300x158.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"158\" srcset=\"\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2012\/04\/Keith-Mellinger-4-300x158.jpg 300w, \/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2012\/04\/Keith-Mellinger-4-768x405.jpg 768w, \/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2012\/04\/Keith-Mellinger-4-1024x540.jpg 1024w, \/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2012\/04\/Keith-Mellinger-4-1140x602.jpg 1140w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>The Spider and Fly Puzzle has mesmerized math buffs for more than a century.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re in a big room and there\u2019s a spider on one wall and on the opposite wall is a fly,\u201d said <strong>Keith Mellinger<\/strong>, associate professor and chair of mathematics. \u201cThe question is, if the spider wants to walk along the walls and get to the fly, what\u2019s the shortest path?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The answer, perhaps surprisingly, is a spiral.<\/p>\n<p>Mellinger takes exception to that conventional solution. He recently discovered that the conventional answer doesn\u2019t always hold true. His research appears in a recent issue of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.maa.org\/pubs\/cmj.html\">College Mathematics Journal<\/a>, a publication of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.maa.org\/\">Mathematical Association of America<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we tweak the conditions of the problem, the problem has a different solution,\u201d he said, explaining that the dimensions of the room can change whether a spiral pattern or a straight line is in fact the shortest path.<\/p>\n<p>The complexities of the problem have served as an effective teaching tool for Mellinger.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt shows how to think about mathematics in a different way,\u201d he said. \u201c[The puzzle] is an excellent example to use in my geometry course.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Although Mellinger\u2019s research traditionally focuses on discrete mathematics applied to information technology, he is interested in many mathematical problems including one that is connected to music theory and tries to explain why musical chords have certain moods.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mathematics professor takes on a century-old puzzle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":3841,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"umw_cb_additional_links":[[]],"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_advisory_expires_time":"","_advisory_meta_include":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[5,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-161","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-show","8":"tag-kmelling","9":"tag-mathematics","10":"entry"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.3 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - 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