Futility Closet

Everyone knows Richard the Lion-Hearted and William and Conqueror. Here’s a list of less auspicous royal nicknames:

• “Charles the Bad” (Charles II of Navarre)
• “William the Bastard” (William I of England)
• “Coloman the Bookish” (Coloman of Hungary)
• “Alfonso the Chaste” (Alfonso II of Aragon)
• “Peter the Ceremonious” (Peter IV of Aragon
• “Edmund the Deed-Doer” (Edmund I of England)
• “Henry the Fat” (Henry III of Champagne)
• “Louis the Indolent” (Louis V of France)
• “Edgar the Outlaw” (Edgar Atheling)
• “Constantius the Pale” (Constantius Chlorus)
• “Louis the Sluggard” (Louis V of France)
• “Garcia the Trembler” (Garcia II of Navarre)

Worst of all: “Constantine the Dung-Named,” Byzantine emperor from 741 to 775. Supposedly he defecated in his baptismal font in 718. Nice going.

There are a number of ways to solve a simple maze like the one above, by following a wall, for instance, or counting turns. But these don’t always work in high-dimensional mazes, and some require a compass or other orienteering knowledge. Suppose you find yourself in the nine-dimensional Arcturan Insanity Labyrinth, haunted by the six-souled Fury Demon of Ragnab Zeta? What then?

Your best hope is Tremaux’s algorithm, which works in all mazes with well-defined passages. Draw a line on the floor. When you reach a junction, turn around if you’ve been there before; otherwise pick any direction. If you revisit a passage that’s already marked, draw a second line (you’ll never need to take a passage more than twice) and at the next junction take an unmarked passage if you can.

That’s it. If there’s an exit, you’ll find it. If there isn’t, you’ll find yourself back at the start. Good luck with that demon.
(Image: Wikimedia Commons)

“If Christ were here now, there is one thing he would not be — a Christian.” — Mark Twain