You’ve heard that America must train its children for careers in the STEM fields — science, technology, engineering and math. But math is not just a stable, sensible career.

Seattle educator Dan Finkel says math is a joy. If it’s a drag, why would you inflict it on your child?

Finkel and his wife, Katherine Cook, run an education program called Math For Love. Long before he got his PhD in math from the University of Washington, he was a kid, wondering why he was learning math in school.

Finkel and Cook also contribute regularly to the New York Times puzzle blog, Numberplay. In Finkel’s latest puzzle, a pilgrim shows up in a town that taxes visitors by blocks walked. How can a poor pilgrim get to the shrine most directly?