Customer Reviews

Mathematical Recreations and Essays (Dover Recreational Math)

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This is a classic collection of mathematical recreations. Originally written by W.W. Rouse Ball around 1900, this edition has been updated by the great geometer H.S.M. Coxeter. It is a comprehensive first source for information about magic squares, Platonic and Archimedian solids, "Knight's Tours" and other chessboard recreations, and just about any other variety of math-related puzzle you could name.

For a mathematician, Coxeter is an excellent writer, and the book is quite accessible, even to relative math novices. Fans of Martin Gardner's books, of his "Scientific American" Mathematical Games columns, will want to own this. And because it's published by Dover, the price is right, too.

Any fan of mathematical puzzles will go ape over this thoroughly researched, timeless classic. Even for jaded scientists in their forties (such as me) and beyond, there's always some new gem to be discovered at the turn of a page. The scope of the book is immense, ranging from all manner of "classical" recreations to the puzzles of antiquity (e.g., squaring the circle) to the history of pi to the structure and functionality of the kaleidoscope. It's all here!

This is a timeless classic and a primary reference
for recreational mathematicians. And the price
is unbeatable.

My favorite -- N is prime if, and only if, (N - 1)! + 1 is divisible by N -- or
maybe you already know that?