Mathematics and Chess (Dover Recreational Math) [Paperback]

Miodrag Petkovic (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2, 2011 | Series: Dover Recreational Math

Splendid collection of 99 puzzles, all built around the chessboard. Arithmetical and probability problems, chessboard recreations, geometrical puzzles, mathematical amusements and games, more. Many standard problems with new, interesting twists. You don’t need to be a chess player, just know the rules of the game. Solutions.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (November 2, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486294323
• ISBN-13: 978-0486294322
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #118,020 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #49 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Puzzles & Games > Math Games

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Many hours of happy puzzling if you like chess and maths., July 15, 1999

By 

Neil Bloomfield ([e-mail]) (Perth, Western Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mathematics and Chess (Dover Recreational Math) (Paperback)

This book has six sections, looking at chess and (i) arithmetic and probability (ii)diversions (moving around a board and placement problems (iii) tours (especially knight's) (iv) geometric puzzles (v) amusements and games (vi) miscellaneous. I am enjoying reading this book, because of the number of puzzles, and the variety of puzzles. This book doesn't look at "classical" chess puzzles ("White to move and mate in 2.") Instead, it focusses on more esoteric material. For example, at the moment I am attempting to place 16 pawns on a chessboard so that no three are in a straight line. I can do this easily for rows and columns and the diagonals - but I suspect I also have to eliminate lines formed by two successive knight's jumps. Ouch. Maybe I'll write a small computer program to help me. If you are familiar with the works of Martin Gardner, Sam Lloyd, Henry E Dudney or (the regrograde problems of) Raymod Smullyan, then you will find similar puzzles. But "Mathematics and Chess" provides not two or three puzzles, but 110. Note I said "I am enjoying reading" this book. If I can avoid looking up the answers, I suspect that I will still be reading and puzzling in ten year's time. Not many books can provide that much entertainment. A classical compilation of slightly-different chess problems.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Pass Time Book, but a Bit Bugged, March 31, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Mathematics and Chess (Dover Recreational Math) (Paperback)

This is an excellent book for people interested in solving all sorts of challenging problems. Being a good chess player helps just as much as being good at math, but you will need something more to break the multiple challenges - an inner drive. This book won't help you play chess any better, or be better at math, but it will provide you with an entertaining and brain challenging pass time. Great for sharing some of the learnings with friends, or for setting up parallel contests to see who solves the problems quicker, for individuals or teams.

Unfortunately, the book has bugs here and there. Bugs can be in the solutions, i.e., typos in solutions. Example of this is problem 6.12 with some rook moves mistakenly shown as bishop moves in the solution. Also bugs can be in a poor translation of a word problem into English, to the point where it is totally impossible to understand the intent. Example the fantastic "Where is the King?" problem 4.15, totally spoiled based on the wording of what the king does when he reaches the castle "turns counterclockwise around the castle at the right angle" and bishop (similar wording). Maybe in the native language that wording had an exact meaning, but in English it is totally meaningless. In fact, it is plain wrong, because the intent is for the king to turn 90 degrees to his right, when in fact it seems the turn is 90 degrees to his left. The point is that this is an elegant geometry and math problem that should not be spoiled by inaccurate or misleading wording, i.e., the challenge should not be in guessing at the intent of the wording but at solving the math problem with correct reliable information.

Overall a fantastic book that can provide hours and hours of entertainment, well worth its inexpensive cost!!! However, I challenge the author to clean up the bugs for the next edition. He owes it to the folks that are willing to spend valuable time working the problems!!!

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars not what I expected, December 8, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Mathematics and Chess (Dover Recreational Math) (Paperback)

This is an interesting book, with some good problems to solve, but I was expecting a book that would relate math to chess, instead this is a book that uses the chess board and the game of chess to solve mathematical problems, this book does nothing to help with understanding chess or improving your game.