The 2nd Scientific American book of mathematical puzzles & diversions

University of Chicago Press ed.
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Last edited by Stew
February 9, 2023 | History

The 2nd Scientific American book of mathematical puzzles & diversions

University of Chicago Press ed.
  • 21 Want to read
  • 1 Currently reading
  • 2 Have read

Martin Gardner’s “Mathematical Games” Department ran monthly in SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN. This second book is composed entirely of new games and puzzles that appeared there since Mr. Gardner’s first collection was published in 1959. Offering a new feast of mathematical entertainments to charm both layman and mathematician, some are easy, some are tough, and some call for scissors and paste. For most the only basic equipment needed is an alert and curious mind. All are connected, via the author’s clear and lively commentaries, to important aspects of mathematical thinking.

Time will vanish as you turn Flexatubes inside out... play Piet Hein’s new game of Soma... consider the Mathematics of Cooling Coffee and Slicing Doughnuts... find your way through Hampton Court Maze (or any maze, in person or on paper)... explore, while folding a bird, the mathematics of Origami... divert yourself with Digital Roots... attack the maddening puzzle of the Monkey and the Coconuts. Play the new Induction Game of Eleusis - with a standard deck of cards - and you become a scientist outguessing the universe. Solve the new Smith-Jones-Robinson problems and you experience the triumphs of the logician. An easily learned parlor trick provides an introduction to the concept of Numerical Congruence. And the reader is shown how “humanity, bracing itself for the shock of finding life on other planets,” might draw comfort from the properties of Platonic Solids. In addition: brain teasers (18 of them, neat as epigrams); mind expanders (see the section on Ambiguity and Probability); Topological Magic with pencil, shoelace and soda straw; and a history-making report on the solution of a classic problem — squaring the square. The final chapter is surely the funniest commentary on numerology ever written.

Add it all up - by mental arithmetic or with the help of the smartest of electronic calculators - and this is the total: topflight entertainment, delightful reading, and an invaluable key to the joys of the mathematical process.

Publish Date
Language
English
Pages
254

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Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: The 2nd Scientific American book of mathematical puzzles & diversions
The 2nd Scientific American book of mathematical puzzles & diversions
1987, University of Chicago Press
in English - University of Chicago Press ed.
Cover of: More mathematical puzzles and diversions
More mathematical puzzles and diversions
1966, Penguin Books
in English
Cover of: The 2nd Scientific American Book of Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions
The 2nd Scientific American Book of Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions
June 1963, Simon & Schuster
Paperback
Cover of: The 2nd Scientific American book of mathematical puzzles & diversions
Cover of: The 2nd Scientific American book of mathematical puzzles & diversions

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Book Details


Edition Notes

Bibliography: p. 245-251.
Cover title: The second Scientific American book of mathematical puzzles and diversions.
Reprint. Originally published: New York : Simon and Schuster, 1961.

Published in
Chicago
Other Titles
Second Scientific American book of mathematical puzzles and diversions.

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
793.7/4
Library of Congress
QA95 .G16 1987, QA95 .G3 1987, QA95.G16 1987

The Physical Object

Pagination
254 p. :
Number of pages
254

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL2382074M
Internet Archive
2ndscientificame00gard
ISBN 10
0226282538
LCCN
87010760
Library Thing
5316866
Goodreads
415054

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Download catalog record: RDF / JSON
February 9, 2023 Edited by Stew Remove dup. subject mark.
December 13, 2022 Edited by Stew Update covers
December 12, 2022 Edited by OnFrATa Merge works (MRID: 33207)
December 10, 2022 Edited by Stew Move notes to edition
December 8, 2009 Created by ImportBot add works page