Bug in the Plane Problems Awesome Math 2011

All the following problems except number √ 2 refer to a bijective function

f : Z+ → Z × Z such that d(f (n), f (n + 1)) ≤ 2 for all n and f (0) = (0, 0).
Such a function is called a crawl. Here, Z+ = {0, 1, 2, 3, . . .} is the set of
nonnegative integers, and Z is the set of all integers.

1. A bug crawls around the plane at a uniform rate, one unit per minute.
He starts at the origin at time 0 and crawls one unit to the right,
arriving at (1, 0), turns 90◦ left and crawls another unit to (1, 1), turns
90◦ left again, and crawls two units. He continues to make 90◦ left
turns as shown in the figure. Let g(t) denote the position in the plane
after t minutes, where t is an integer. Thus, for example, g(0) = (0, 0),
g(6) = (−1, −1), and g(16) = (−2, 2). (The path of the bug establishes
a one-to-one correspondence between the non-negative integers and the
integer lattice points of the plane.)

• • • • •

• • • • •
(0, 0)
• • • •

• • • •

(a) Where is the bug after exactly 2008 minutes? How many turns
does the bug make during the first 2008 minutes of its crawl?
(b) How many minutes does it take for the bug to get to the ordered
pair (19, 99)?
(c) Does there exist an integer t such that g(t) and g(t + 23) are
exactly 17 units apart? If so, find the smallest such t.
(d) Now suppose one bug leaves exactly 99 minutes after the other.
What is the closest they ever get to each other? In other words,
what is the smallest possible value of D(g(t), g(t + 99)), t ≥ 0,
where D represents the distance function? What is the smallest
value of t for which this distance is achieved.

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Bug in the Plane Problems Awesome Math 2011

(e) Now suppose one bug leaves exactly 100 minutes after the other.
What is the closest they ever get to each other? In other words,
what is the smallest possible value of D(g(t), g(t + 100)), t ≥ 0,
where D represents the distance function? What is the smallest
value of t for which this distance is achieved.
(f) For how many integer values of t is g(t) exactly 5 units from the
origin? If we drop the integer requirement and assume the bug
travels at a uniform rate, how many times is it exactly 5 units
from the origin? Find the largest and smallest integers t for which
g(t) is 5 units from the origin. Find the largest and smallest real
numbers for which g(t) is 5 units from the origin.
(g) Build the function g : Z+ → Z × Z that describes the bugs crawl.
(h) Build the function h : Z × Z → Z+ that describes the time when
the bug reaches each lattice point of the plane.

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Bug in the Plane Problems Awesome Math 2011

2. This time the bug stays in the first quadrant. It crawls from the origin
up one unit after one minute, over to (1, 1) after another minute, and
down to (1, 0) after three minutes. Each time it gets to an axis, it
makes a right turn away from the origin, crawls one unit, then makes
another right turn, staying in the first quadrant.

◦ ◦

◦ ◦ ◦

◦ ◦ ◦

◦ ◦ ◦
(0, 0)

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Bug in the Plane Problems Awesome Math 2011

(a) Where is the bug after exactly 2008 minutes?

(b) How many minutes does it take for the bug to get to the ordered
pair (19, 99)?

3. A bug starts from the origin on the plane and crawls one unit upwards
to (0, 1) after one minute. During the second minute, it crawls two
units to the right ending at (2, 1). Then during the third minute, it
crawls three units upward, arriving at (2, 4). It makes another right
turn and crawls four units during the fourth minute. From here it
continues to crawl n units during minute n and then makes a 90◦ turn
either left or right. The bug continues this until after 16 minutes, it
finds itself back at the origin. Its path does not intersect itself. What
is the smallest possible area of the 16-gon traced out by its path?

4. This time our bug can make turns other than right turns. Consider
the path shown below, again starting at the origin. Each unit segment
between lattice points take√exactly one minute to traverse and each
diagonal segment of length 2 also takes one minute.

..◦ ◦ ◦
.. ....
◦..
... .◦
.. ...◦ ...◦
.
. .... ...... ......
◦..
.. ◦.... .◦...
(0, 0) ...
..
.
. ..
◦
.
◦..

(a) Where is the bug after exactly 2008 minutes?

(b) How many minutes does it take for the bug to get to the ordered
pair (19, 99)?

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Bug in the Plane Problems Awesome Math 2011

(c) Find the smallest t for which the bugs position g(t) after t minutes
is at least 100 units away from the origin. For this value of t, how
many turns has the bug made?

5. This time our bug moves around based on where it is. Let

A = {(m, n) | m > −2/3 and − m − 1 ≤ n < 2m + 1},

B = {(m, n) | n ≥ 2m + 1 and n ≥ m/2},

and
C = {(m, n) | n ≤ m/2 and n ≤ m − 1}.
As before g(t) is the position of the bug at time t. Now we are given
that g(0) = (0, 0). Also, when the bug belongs to set A at time t, it
moves up one unit at t+ 1. If g(t) = (a, b) belongs to B, then g(t +1) =
(a − 1, b − 1), and if g(t) = (a, b) belongs to C, then g(t + 1) = (a − 1, b).

(a) Where is the bug after exactly 1000 minutes?

(b) How many minutes does it take for the bug to get to the ordered
pair (21, −22)?
(c) Find the smallest t for which the bugs position g(t) after t minutes
is at least 100 units away from the origin. For this value of t, how
many turns has the bug made?

6. Here’s yet
√ another crawl. This time, we’ll give the bug lots of steps of
length 2.

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Bug in the Plane Problems Awesome Math 2011

...•....
.. .... .........
... .....
...... .....
.....
.
. .. .....
..... ...•..
.
..•. . .
..•....... .....
.... .. .. ..... .....
..
. .
.. ..... .....
.... .... . .....
.... .. .. ....... .....
..
. ... ..... .....
.... .. .. ..... ....
... •..
. (0, 0)
g(12) = (−2, 0) • •
..... .•
......•.
.. .. ....
......
. ..
.....
.. ..
...... ......
•.... •..
. ...
•
..... .. ....•
..... ...
.....
..... .. ....
..... ....
..... .......
..•...

(a) How long does it take the bug to reach the point (20, 10)?
(b) Where is the bug after 2010 minutes?
(c) Build a square around the first n rings, find the area A in square
units of the square, and use this to estimate the location of the

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 bug after A minutes.
7. For each bug crawl above, let D(t) denote the total distance the bug
has crawled at time t. Let
D(t)
L = lim .
t→inf t
Does this limit always exist? Find L for each of the crawls above.
8. Project. A bug crawls around the plane at a rate that gets it to a new
integer lattice point every minute. He starts at the origin at time 0 and
crawls one unit upward, arriving at (0, 1), turns and
√ crawls directly to
◦
(−1, 0) arriving at time 2, turns 90 left and crawls 2 units to the point
(0, −1) arriving at time 3. Let g(t) denote the position in the plane
after t minutes, where t is an integer. Thus, for example, g(0) = (0, 0),
g(4) = (1, 0), and g(12) = (2, 0).

(a) How long does it take the bug to reach the point (20, 10)?
(b) Where is the bug after 2010 minutes?
(c) Build the function g and its inverse function.

..◦...
.. .... ........
... ...
.. .... .◦.1 ......◦
.... ......
◦ ◦

.... ..
.... ◦2........ ◦ g(4) =.◦. (1, 0) .◦. g(12) = (2, 0)
◦.....
..... .. .. ..
..... ......... ...... ......
..... . . .
.◦.... .....◦..... ..◦....
..... .
..... ....
..... ......
.◦...

References and further reading.

References
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulam_spiral discusses the locations
of prime numbers in the crawl.

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Bug in the Plane Problems Awesome Math 2011

[2] http://www.numberspiral.com/index.html discusses integer spirals.