We are given a matrix, in which we should count the steps of a path of a given number.

Maze.php

<?php
/**
 * Maze.php
 *
 * We are given a matrix, in which we should count the steps of a path of a given number.
 *
 * @author Tsvetan Ovedenski
 */

// matrix
$maze = [
    [1,2,3,4],
    [3,2,2,1],
    [7,5,2,4],
    [4,3,2,6],
];

$cnt = 0; // count of num found
$num = 2; // what we are looking for


for ($row = 0; $row < count($maze) - 1; $row++) {
    for ($col = 0; $col < count($maze[$row]) - 1; $col++) {
        if ($maze[$row][$col] === $num) {   // we've got our number,
            while (1) {                     // start following the path
                $cnt++;

                if ($row === count($maze) - 1 || $col === count($maze[$row]) - 1)
                    break;


                if ($maze[$row][$col + 1] === $num) {
                    $col++;
                } else if ($maze[$row + 1][$col] === $num) {
                    $row++;
                }
            }
            break;
        }
    }
}

echo $cnt; // result