Mathematical CarnivalMartin Gardner's Mathematical Games columns in Scientific American inspired and entertained several generations of mathematicians and scientists. Gardner in his crystal-clear prose illuminated corners of mathematics, especially recreational mathematics, that most people had no idea existed. His playful spirit and inquisitive nature invite the reader into an exploration of beautiful mathematical ideas along with him. These columns were both a revelation and a gift when he wrote them; no one--before Gardner--had written about mathematics like this. They continue to be a marvel. This volume, first published in 1975, contains columns published in the magazine from 1965-1967. This 1989 MAA edition contains a foreword by John H. Conway and a postscript and extended bibliography added by Gardner for this edition. |
Contents
| 1 | |
Mrs Perkins Quilt and Other | 11 |
Penny Puzzles | 12 |
Alephnull and Alephone | 27 |
Hypercubes | 41 |
Magic Stars and Polyhedrons | 55 |
Calculating Prodigies | 66 |
Tricks of Lightning Calculators | 77 |
Card Shuffles | 123 |
The Numerology of Dr Fliess | 150 |
Random Numbers | 161 |
The Rising Hourglass and Other Physics Puzzles | 173 |
Pascals Triangle | 194 |
Jam Hot and Other Games | 208 |
Cooks and QuibbleCooks | 226 |
Piet Heins Superellipse | 240 |
The Art of M C Escher | 89 |
The RedFaced Cube and Other Problems | 103 |
How to Trisect an Angle | 255 |
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Aitken aleph aleph-null aleph-one anagram angle answer asked binary Biorhythm bottom called Cantor cards cell chain CHAPTER circle coins color combinatorial Conway corner curve cycle decimal deck diagonal digital root digits divide doubling Dudeney edges Escher faces faro shuffles finite Fliess formula four four-space fraction Freud geometry glasses graph hexagram hexomino hypercube infinite number infinity inside integers intersect kayles lightning calculators line segment loop M. C. Escher magic constant magic number Martin Gardner mathematicians minimum moves multiplier nine obtained Pascal's triangle pattern pennies pentagram Piet Hein plane play player points polycube position possible problem procedure proof published puzzle random reader Recreational Mathematics rectangle rolling rotations Scientific American shown in Figure side solution spot sprouts square stage calculators star subset superegg superellipse tesseract three-space tion triangular trick trisected vertices zero