Flavius Josephus was a Jewish historian living in the first century when he and his comrades found themselves trapped in a cave. Surrounded by Roman centurions, this band chose suicide over capture, and they elected to form a circle and then start killing themselves. From this rather traumatic situation came the well-known Josephus Problem, a classic problem of recreational mathematics. This educational resource offered by Doug Ensley of Shippensburg University will help math teachers teach their charges about this fabled problem. This site includes an interactive demonstration of the problem, complete with a historical background essay. Additionally, the site also contains information about making the best use of this resource in the classroom.
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