What information entered the process?
Labs / Computer Science
Maze Generation
A maze tunnels itself into existence one corridor at a time. Pick an algorithm and watch the walls fall, then press Solve — or click and drag anywhere in the grid — to chase a shortest path from that cell down to the exit in the bottom-right corner.
Labs / Computer Science / Maze Generation
Maze Generation
A maze tunnels itself into existence one corridor at a time. Pick an algorithm and watch the walls fall, then press Solve — or click and drag anywhere in the grid — to chase a shortest path from that cell down to the exit in the bottom-right corner.
Why it matters
Why explore this?
Computer science turns clear rules into reliable processes. This model lets you step through those rules and see how each decision changes the result.
Explore
Try the model
Carving…carved 0 / 0path —
Investigate
Questions to test
Predict first, try it in the model, then use what you observe to answer.
What to try
- The backtracker digs long, winding tunnels; Prim spreads out from a seed. Which one leaves you with more dead ends?
- Click a cell right next to the exit, then one far away. How does the solution length change with distance across the grid?
- Crank the grid up to 40×40. Does the solver still find the one true path through thousands of cells?
- Slow the speed right down. Can you predict which wall the carver will punch through next, or is it truly random?
- Between any two cells in a finished maze, how many different routes exist — one, or many?
Explain
Make sense of what happened
Trace the process one step at a time. Name the rule used at each important step, then explain why the final result follows from those rules.
Check
Before you leave
Which rule changed it?
Why did the process produce this result?
If you can answer all three using evidence from the model, you understand the main idea. If not, return to Explore and change one setting at a time.