Vector Maze

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5 Instructions More Vectors

Transum.org

This web site contains over a thousand free mathematical activities for teachers and pupils. Click here to go to the main page which links to all of the resources available.

Please contact me if you have any suggestions or questions.

Email address

Mathematicians are not the people who find Maths easy; they are the people who enjoy how mystifying, puzzling and hard it is. Are you a mathematician?

Comment recorded on the 24 May 'Starter of the Day' page by Ruth Seward, Hagley Park Sports College:

"Find the starters wonderful; students enjoy them and often want to use the idea generated by the starter in other parts of the lesson. Keep up the good work"

Comment recorded on the 5 April 'Starter of the Day' page by Mr Stoner, St George's College of Technology:

"This resource has made a great deal of difference to the standard of starters for all of our lessons. Thank you for being so creative and imaginative."

Each month a newsletter is published containing details of the new additions to the Transum website and a new puzzle of the month.

The newsletter is then duplicated as a podcast which is available on the major delivery networks. You can listen to the podcast while you are commuting, exercising or relaxing.

Transum breaking news is available on Twitter @Transum and if that's not enough there is also a Transum Facebook page.

Featured Activity

Shunting Puzzles

Shunting Puzzles

These puzzles are Transum's versions of the shunting or switching puzzles made popular by train enthusiasts and logic puzzle solvers.

Numeracy

"Numeracy is a proficiency which is developed mainly in Mathematics but also in other subjects. It is more than an ability to do basic arithmetic. It involves developing confidence and competence with numbers and measures. It requires understanding of the number system, a repertoire of mathematical techniques, and an inclination and ability to solve quantitative or spatial problems in a range of contexts. Numeracy also demands understanding of the ways in which data are gathered by counting and measuring, and presented in graphs, diagrams, charts and tables."

Secondary National Strategy, Mathematics at key stage 3

Go Maths

Learning and understanding Mathematics, at every level, requires learner engagement. Mathematics is not a spectator sport. Sometimes traditional teaching fails to actively involve students. One way to address the problem is through the use of interactive activities and this web site provides many of those. The Go Maths main page links to more activities designed for students in upper Secondary/High school.

Teachers

If you found this activity useful don't forget to record it in your scheme of work or learning management system. The short URL, ready to be copied and pasted, is as follows:

Alternatively, if you use Google Classroom, all you have to do is click on the green icon below in order to add this activity to one of your classes.

It may be worth remembering that if Transum.org should go offline for whatever reason, there are mirror site at Transum.info that contains most of the resources that are available here on Transum.org.

When planning to use technology in your lesson always have a plan B!

Transum.org is a proud supporter of the kidSAFE Seal Program

© Transum Mathematics :: This activity can be found online at:
www.Transum.org/go/?Num=780

Instructions

Close

Close

Type numbers into the vectors to create movement. For example, in level 1 you may decide the first vector should represent five squares across (positive values move to the right and negative values left) and eleven squared down (positive values are up and negative values down).

Vector Maze Example

Press the 'Run Vectors' button to see the affect of your chosen numbers.

The objective is to find the shortest route to reach the red circle. You might be able to shorten your route if you use more vectors.

Currently the shortest route for this level (Level 1) has been achieved by someone claiming a trophy with the name 21gplenty with a distance of 24.4 units on Saturday, October 21, 2023. Can you beat that? If you can make sure you claim a trophy because that is how fast times are officially recognised.

21gplenty

24.4

Can you find a shorter route?

You can calculate the length of each leg of your journey by using Pythagoras' Theorem. In the example below red lines have been drawn to show the horizontal and vertical components of the vector, 3 across and 4 down.

Finding the length of a vector

Prthagoras' Theorem states that the length of the hypotenuse (the blue line) is equal to the square root of the squares of the other two sides added together (the red lines).

Using Pythagoras' Theorem

So the length of this leg of your journey is 5 units. You will find that the lengths you are finding in this way don't often turn out to be whole numbers so you should round of the length of your complete journey to three significant figures.

Answers to this exercise are available lower down this page when you are logged in to your Transum account. If you don’t yet have a Transum subscription one can be very quickly set up if you are a teacher, tutor or parent.

Log in Sign up