One of Oskar van Deventer's puzzles is the gear maze 2x2.There are 4 gears connected together so if you move one gear all four gears rotate (two clockwise, the other two counter-clockwise).On the gears there is a maze and the object is to move a ball through this maze.
Now my question is:
- Is there an (easy) way to calculate the solution by using an excel-based spreadsheet or …
To make things not too complicated let us say:
- one gear consists of (only) 12 teeth
- so each gear is parted in 12 segments
- the connecting points of the gears are defined e. g.
1(red) <-> 1(blue); 4(blue) <-> 4(green); 1(green) <->1(orange); 4(orange) <-> 4(red) the paths of the maze start and end on a segment and do not cross each other