Customer Reviews

The Great Book Of Math Teasers

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This is a good little book of puzzles.However,the title is somewhat misleading.It is hardly "Great".It has only 96 pages and there are only 81 puzzles in the book and not all the puzzles involve math,in fact some are what you would call magic tricks,screw or cog puzzles,river crossing problems,dice puzzles,matchstick puzzles etc.In other words a good variety of puzzles.However, they are all mindteasers of one type or another;and will entertain and challenge anyone who likes puzzles.Generally speaking this collection of puzzles contains many common or classic puzzles and is more suitable for a novice than a expert.
There is another caution ,if you are thinking about getting this book.It has been published before and is exactly like one published by Sterling Publishing,in 1981 and was also published in hardcover with a title of "Math Teasers: Mental Gymnastics" They are all identical in content and by the same author.
What we have here is by Scholastic who publish a lot of books for youth and for schools.
The puzzles will definately suit students and without doubt ,many,if not most adults;excepting seasoned puzzle addicts.
So,my caution is that you may have seen many of these puzzles before or even seen a different publication of this book.

After reading this book, I question the use of the word "great" in the title. The puzzles are quite old and commonplace rather than new and interesting. Most of them have appeared many times in other publications. For example, the following type of puzzles all appear in this book:

*) What questions do you ask of two people where one is known to always lie and the other will always tell the truth?
*) How to measure one liter when all you have only a 3 and a 5-liter jug?
*) There are 11 people at a party and they clink glasses before they drink. How many times are glasses clinked together?
*) "My son is 24 years younger than I am. He, in turn is 25 years older than my grandson. My grandson and I are together 73 years old. How old is the grandfather?"

If you are experienced in puzzling, then it is likely that there will not be a single puzzle in this collection that you have not seen before. Therefore, the title is an overstatement.