This delightful collection from the magician of math introduces readers to magic squares, the Generalized Ham Sandwich Theorem, origami, digital roots, an update of the Induction Game of Eleusis, Dudeney puzzles, the maze at Hampton Court palace, and many more mathematical puzzles and principles. ''Gardner is often the clown prince of science. . . . His Mathematical Games column in Scientific American is one of the few bridges over C. P. Snow's famous 'gulf of mutual incomprehension' that lies between the technical and literary cultures.''— Time
HOME......Page 0
CONTENTS......Page 7
INTRODUCTION......Page 9
The Five Platonic Solids......Page 12
Tetraflexagons......Page 23
Henry Ernest Dudeney: England's Greatest Puzzlist......Page 31
Digital Roots......Page 42
Nine Problems......Page 50
The Soma Cube......Page 64
Recreational Topology......Page 77
Phi: The Golden Ratio......Page 88
The Monkey and the Coconuts......Page 103
Mazes......Page 111
Recreational Logic......Page 118
Magic Squares......Page 129
James Hugh Riley Shows, Inc.......Page 140
Nine More Problems......Page 151
Eleusis: The Induction Game......Page 164
Origami......Page 173
Squaring the Square......Page 185
Mechanical Puzzles......Page 209
Probability and Ambiguity......Page 219
The Mysterious Dr. Matrix......Page 232
References for Further Reading......Page 243
Postscript......Page 251
