The PuzzlOR bimonthly operations research-related problems

A simple, principled way of solving October&#x27;s problem is to model it as a Markov chain with absorbing states (the &quot;Finish&quot; square, and the two invisible squares past it -- the two invisible squares are unnecessary as mentioned by jtsummers below), and compute the expected absorption time starting from the first square.<p>See e.g. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absorbing_Markov_chain" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Absorbing_Markov_chain</a>

The puzzles are weird. Some of them could be a homework problem at a good elementary school (e.g. <a href="http://www.puzzlor.com/2012-10_FarmOR.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.puzzlor.com&#x2F;2012-10_FarmOR.html</a>). Others appear NP-hard, unless I&#x27;m mistaken (e.g. <a href="http://www.puzzlor.com/2013-06_SelfDrivingCars.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.puzzlor.com&#x2F;2013-06_SelfDrivingCars.html</a>). Is the author trying to make a point about the nature of OR?

What is Operations Research, and why is it related to this puzzle.<p>I found the puzzle easy enough. It&#x27;s just a matter of calculating how many moves are needed from square 11, then square 10, and so on. The chutes complicate matters a little, but not much.