Path Walking Puzzle (TANTON Mathematics) @DrJamesTanton

Uploaded October 2010 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

Here is THE puzzle which I believe led me as a youngster to become a mathematician. I found it on my bedroom ceiling (!) and its depth speaks to the true essence of mathematical discovery.

Path Walking Puzzle (TANTON Mathematics)

Deriving the Quadratic Formula (TANTON Mathematics)

Currys Paradox and the Notion of Area: Part I (Tanton)

Sums of Squares Formula (Tanton Mathematics)

$What is Fractional Dimension and What is a Fractal? (TANTON Mathematics) Take a picture to a photocopier and set it to scale by a factor of three. Then all lengths in the picture triple in size (factor of three to the one-th power) and all areas increase by a factor of nine (three to the two-th power). But there are objects that scale by fractional powers!$

Basic Transformations of Graphs: Translations (TANTON Mathematics)