A research team in the Department of Scientific Computing has expanded a 1950s math game and turned it into a project that helps undergraduate students practice and grow their skills.
Bryan Quaife, associate professor in the Department of Scientific Computing and faculty associate of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Institute, based the work on Martin Gardner’s 1957 puzzle “Four Bugs on a Square.” In the original problem, one bug starts at each corner of an imaginary square and moves toward the one ahead of it at the same speed. Their paths form matching spirals that curve inward until they meet at a single point.
Josh Briley, left, an undergraduate researcher and student of the Department of Scientific Computing, and Bryan Quaife, right, associate professor in the Department of Scientific Computing and faculty associate of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Institute. They developed a puzzle based on a classic math game that gives undergraduate students an opportunity to apply the skills they learned in the classroom.
