Proves that math can be serious fun!If you like any kind of game at all, you'll enjoy the amazing mathematical brainteasers in this entertaining book. No special mathematics training is needed. With an emphasis on puzzling word problems with surprising solutions, the author presents his mathematical hurdles in order of increasing difficulty. Many appear deceptively simple, such as: How many quarter-inch marks are on an unusual sixteen-inch ruler? Or: If the cost of a bottle and a cork is $1.10 and the bottle costs $1.00 more than the cork, how much did the bottle alone cost? Check the answers before you decide that these are too easy. You may be surprised.Novices may want to begin with some of the teasers in the first "easy" section. More experienced math-heads may want to test their wits with the "challenging" or even the "difficult" sections (some are fiendishly difficult). Including word problems by famed mathematical puzzle geniuses Sam Loyd (1841 - 1911) and Henry Ernest Dudeney (1857 - 1930), which have entertained recreational math aficionados for more than a century, this book has something for puzzle solvers at any level. And for the math phobic, it may whet your appetite to delve into a subject you thought could only be boring.
Author(s): Owen O'Shea
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Year: 2020
Language: English
Pages: 360
Contents
Foreword
Introduction
Easy Puzzles, Easy Teasers
1 The Rope Ladder
2 The Bottle and the Cork
3 The Newspaper Round
4 Cigarette Butts
5 Which Tank Will Empty First?
6 How Long Is the Line AB?
7 Blaney to Slaney
8 The Case of the Missing Dollar
9 How Long Is the Side of the Inner Square?
10 The Train Leaving and Returning to the Station
11 The Height of the Stack of Paper
12 The Caterpillar
13 Brooklyn versus Bronx
14 The Color of the Bear
15 9 Coins
16 2 Teenagers
17 The Unlucky Storekeeper
18 Bacteria in a Jar
19 3 Cats
20 The Thief in the Store
21 Counting Blonde Students
22 The Cost of Shoeing a Horse
23 The 16-Inch Ruler
24 Pay raise and Pay cut
25 The Cleaning Lady
Challenging Teasers
26 The Lonely Monk
27 The Town Council Clock
28 The Books on the Bookshelf
29 The Black and White Marbles
30 How Far Has the Fly Traveled?
31 5 Loaves and 3 Gentlemen
32 2 Red Queens and a Black Ace
33 The Curious Transaction That Resulted in a Missing Dollar
34 Counting the Number of Earrings
35 The Bicycle Race
36 The Will
37 The 2 Crossing Ropes
38 The 2 Bullets in a Revolver
39 The Bookworm
40 How Many Ways Can the 20 Numbers on a Dartboard Be Arranged?
41 The Tower of Hanoi Puzzle
42 The Kidnapper
43 The 5 Letters and Envelopes
44 The Rate of Speed That Mary Swims
45 The Floating Ice Cube
46 The 10 Stacks of Coins
47 Signs along the Highway
48 Choose 2 Good Eggs from 6
49 The Party
50 Whom Should Johnny Play First?
51 The Engagement Ring
52 The 2 Women Selling Apples
53 Tommy Takes a Walk
54 The Story of Linda
55 The Problem of the Average Speed on the Round-Trip
56 Bixley to Quixley
57 The Boat and Its Cargo
58 The Mutilated Checkerboard
59 The Rose Garden
60 The Deck of Cards Problem
61 The Weight of the Potatoes
62 Calculating the Width of a River
63 The Green and Blue Cabs
64 The 3 Dice
65 The 3 Vagabonds
66 The Tennis Tournament
67 2 Footballs
68 The Birthday Paradox
69 The Second Child Puzzle
70 The 4 Bridge Players
71 The 2 End Digits of 20 Numbers
72 Lewis Carroll’s Problem in Probability
73 Against the Wind
74 The 2 Express Trains
75 The Man Packing a Suitcase
Slightly More Challenging Teasers
76 The Links in the Gold Chain
77 The Rotating Coin
78 Dividing the Spoils
79 Counting the Votes
80 The Fence-Post Problem
81 Mr. Blueberry’s Will
82 The Jeweler and the Chain
83 The Price of a Book
84 Visiting a Friend
85 The Typing Teenager
86 Mr. Simpson’s Influence
87 The Potential Employee
88 The Price of Books
89 The Lady in the Jewelry Store
90 Proving Dr. Krieger’s Equation Cannot Hold
91 The Problem Involving Percentages
92 The HIV Test
93 The Mammogram Test
94 Boys and Girls
95 The Distance to the Horizon
96 Traversing 50 Miles of Track
97 2 Steamboats
98 The Bridge Players
99 The Most Likely Position of the First Black Ace in a Shuffled Deck
100 Gold and Silver Coins
101 The Paradox of the Second Ace
102 The Pay Raise
103 The Daily Commuter
104 How Far Is It from Flag D to Flag A?
105 The 2 Tennis Players
106 The Courier Problem
107 The Lake Problem
108 The Spot in a Rectangle
109 How Should the Investment Be Divided?
110 Square Fields and Fence Hurdles
111 The Rope around the Earth
112 The Rope in the Soccer Playing Field
113 Which Scenario Should You Choose?
114 What Is the Probability That You Will Get Your Assigned Seat?
115 The Floating Hat
116 The 2 Riverboats
117 What Is the Largest Number That Can Be Expressed Using 3 Digits?
118 Lottery Odds
119 Water and Brandy
120 The Hole through a Sphere
121 The Ant on a Rubber Rope
Short Biographies
Samuel Loyd
Henry Ernest Dudeney
Martin Gardner
Notes
Select Bibliography
