What is Operations Research, and why is it related to this puzzle. I found the puzzle easy enough. It'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.
OR is a discipline that studies systems and processes, then optimizes them based on statistical and mathematical modeling. At least from a high level, that's the key. In industry, it's used for routing (see UPS, any big box store, Amazon) of goods, in airlines for management of passengers and routes. In industrial processes they take the various factors involved (material costs, personnel costs, time, safety, whateve…
I like turtles.