Bicycle or Unicycle?: A Collection of Intriguing Mathematical Puzzles PDF Download
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Author: Daniel J. Velleman
Publisher: American Mathematical Soc.
ISBN: 1470447592
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 286
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Book Description
Bicycle or Unicycle? is a collection of 105 mathematical puzzles whose defining characteristic is the surprise encountered in their solutions. Solvers will be surprised, even occasionally shocked, at those solutions. The problems unfold into levels of depth and generality very unusual in the types of problems seen in contests. In contrast to contest problems, these are problems meant to be savored; many solutions, all beautifully explained, lead to unanswered research questions. At the same time, the mathematics necessary to understand the problems and their solutions is all at the undergraduate level. The puzzles will, nonetheless, appeal to professionals as well as to students and, in fact, to anyone who finds delight in an unexpected discovery. These problems were selected from the Macalester College Problem of the Week archive. The Macalester tradition of a weekly problem was started by Joseph Konhauser in 1968. In 1993 Stan Wagon assumed problem-generating duties. A previous book written by Wagon, Konhauser, and Dan Velleman, Which Way Did the Bicycle Go?, gathered problems from the first twenty-five years of the archive. The title problem in that collection was inspired by an error in logic made by Sherlock Holmes, who attempted to determine the direction of a bicycle from the tracks of its wheels. Here the title problem asks whether a bicycle track can always be distinguished from a unicycle track. You'll be surprised by the answer.
Author: Daniel J. Velleman
Publisher: American Mathematical Soc.
ISBN: 1470447592
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 286
Get Book
Book Description
Bicycle or Unicycle? is a collection of 105 mathematical puzzles whose defining characteristic is the surprise encountered in their solutions. Solvers will be surprised, even occasionally shocked, at those solutions. The problems unfold into levels of depth and generality very unusual in the types of problems seen in contests. In contrast to contest problems, these are problems meant to be savored; many solutions, all beautifully explained, lead to unanswered research questions. At the same time, the mathematics necessary to understand the problems and their solutions is all at the undergraduate level. The puzzles will, nonetheless, appeal to professionals as well as to students and, in fact, to anyone who finds delight in an unexpected discovery. These problems were selected from the Macalester College Problem of the Week archive. The Macalester tradition of a weekly problem was started by Joseph Konhauser in 1968. In 1993 Stan Wagon assumed problem-generating duties. A previous book written by Wagon, Konhauser, and Dan Velleman, Which Way Did the Bicycle Go?, gathered problems from the first twenty-five years of the archive. The title problem in that collection was inspired by an error in logic made by Sherlock Holmes, who attempted to determine the direction of a bicycle from the tracks of its wheels. Here the title problem asks whether a bicycle track can always be distinguished from a unicycle track. You'll be surprised by the answer.
Author: Joseph D. E. Konhauser
Publisher: American Mathematical Soc.
ISBN: 1614442207
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 235
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Book Description
This collection will give students (high school or beyond), teachers, and university professors a chance to experience the pleasure of wrestling with some beautiful problems of elementary mathematics. Readers can compare their sleuthing talents with those of Sherlock Holmes, who made a bad mistake regarding the first problem in the collection: Determine the direction of travel of a bicycle that has left its tracks in a patch of mud. Which Way did the Bicycle Go? contains a variety of other unusual and interesting problems in geometry, algebra, combinatorics, and number theory. For example, if a pizza is sliced into eight 45degree wedges meeting at a point other than the center of the pizza, and two people eat alternate wedges, will they get equal amounts of pizza? Or: What is the rightmost nonzero digit of the product $1cdot 2cdot 3cdots 1,000,000$? Or: Is a manufacturer's claim that a certain unusual combination lock allows thousands of combinations justified? Complete solutions to the 191 problems are included along with problem variations and topics for investigation.
Author: Jennifer Beineke
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691194416
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 352
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Book Description
The history of mathematics is replete with examples of major breakthroughs resulting from solutions to recreational problems. The modern theory of probability arose out of problems of concern to gamblers, for example, and modern combinatorics grew out of various games and puzzles. Despite this track record and a wealth of popular-level books, there remain few conduits for research in recreational mathematics. The Mathematics of Various Entertaining Subjects now returns with an all-new third volume, presenting new research in diverse areas of recreational mathematics. This volume focuses on four areas: puzzles and brainteasers, games, algebra and number theory, and geometry and topology. Readers will create Spiral Galaxies, Japanese symmetric grid puzzles consisting of squares and circles whose solutions are letters and numbers; delve into a paradox in the game of Bingo; examine the card tricks of mathematician-philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce; learn about the mathematics behind Legos; and much more. Elucidating the many connections between mathematics and games, The Mathematics of Various Entertaining Subjects is sure to challenge and inspire mathematicians and math enthusiasts.
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780883853009
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 235
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Book Description
Author: Peter Winkler
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1482250187
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 178
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Book Description
Collected over several years by Peter Winkler, of Bell Labs, dozens of elegant, intriguing challenges are presented in Mathematical Puzzles. The answers are easy to explain, but without this book, devilishly hard to find. Creative reasoning is the key to these puzzles. No involved computation or higher mathematics is necessary.
Author: Barry R. Clarke
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 048631572X
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 160
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Book Description
Intriguing collection features recreational math, logic, and creativity puzzles. Classic and new puzzles include The Monty Hall Problem, The Unexpected Hanging, The Shakespeare Puzzles, and Finger Multiplication.
Author: Joseph D. E. Konhauser
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780883853252
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 262
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Book Description
The best problems selected from over 25 years of the Problem of the Week at Macalester College.
Author: James Gleick
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307379574
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 400
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Book Description
From the bestselling author of the acclaimed Chaos and Genius comes a thoughtful and provocative exploration of the big ideas of the modern era: Information, communication, and information theory. Acclaimed science writer James Gleick presents an eye-opening vision of how our relationship to information has transformed the very nature of human consciousness. A fascinating intellectual journey through the history of communication and information, from the language of Africa’s talking drums to the invention of written alphabets; from the electronic transmission of code to the origins of information theory, into the new information age and the current deluge of news, tweets, images, and blogs. Along the way, Gleick profiles key innovators, including Charles Babbage, Ada Lovelace, Samuel Morse, and Claude Shannon, and reveals how our understanding of information is transforming not only how we look at the world, but how we live. A New York Times Notable Book A Los Angeles Times and Cleveland Plain Dealer Best Book of the Year Winner of the PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award
Author: Stan Wagon
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9780387986845
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 624
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Book Description
"Mathematica in Action, 2nd Edition," is designed both as a guide to the extraordinary capabilities of Mathematica as well as a detailed tour of modern mathematics by one of its leading expositors, Stan Wagon. Ideal for teachers, researchers, mathematica enthusiasts. This second edition of the highly sucessful W.H. Freeman version includes an 8 page full color insert and 50% new material all organized around Elementary Topics, Intermediate Applications, and Advanced Projects. In addition, the book uses Mathematica 3.0 throughtout. Mathematica 3.0 notebooks with all the programs and examples discussed in the book are available on the TELOS web site (www.telospub.com). These notebooks contain materials suitable for DOS, Windows, Macintosh and Unix computers. Stan Wagon is well-known in the mathematics (and Mathematica) community as Associate Editor of the "American Mathematical Monthly," a columnist for the "Mathematical Intelligencer" and "Mathematica in Education and Research," author of "The Banach-Tarski Paradox" and "Unsolved Problems in Elementary Geometry and Number Theory (with Victor Klee), as well as winner of the 1987 Lester R. Ford Award for Expository Writing.
Author: Calvin C. Clawson
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1489960805
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 322
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Book Description
A meditation on the beauty and meaning of numbers, exploring mathematical equations, describing some of the mathematical discoveries of the past millennia, and pondering philosophical questions about the relation of numbers to the universe.
