Willy Wonka's glass elevator moves in every direction — up, down, sideways, diagonally. What would the mathematics of such an elevator look like?
In Roald Dahl's story, Willy Wonka's great glass elevator doesn't just go up and down — it moves in any direction through 3D space. This exploration invites students to model the motion of a multi-directional elevator mathematically. How would you describe its position using vectors? What equations govern its velocity and acceleration if it can move freely in three dimensions? Students can explore trajectory planning, vector kinematics, and optimisation: given a set of floors and rooms arranged in 3D space, what is the most efficient route for the elevator to visit them all? The problem connects vectors, calculus, and even graph theory.