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Riddles of the Sphinx (New Mathematical Library) [Paperback]

Martin Gardner (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)


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Book Description

January 1987 0883856328 978-0883856321
Martin Gardner begins Riddles with questions about splitting up polygons into prescribed shapes and he ends this book with an offer of a prize of $100 for the first person to send him a 3 x# magic square consisting of consecutive primes. Only Gardner could fit so many diverse and tantalizing problems into one book.

This material was drawn from Gardner's column in Issac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. His riddles presented here incorporate the responses of his initial readers, along with additions suggested by the editors of this series. In this book, Gardner draws us from questions to answers, always presenting us with new riddles- some as yet unanswered. Solving these riddles is not simply a matter of logic and calculation, though these play a role. Luck and inspiration are factors as well., so beginners and experts alike may profiably exercise their wits on Gardner's problems, whose subjects range from geometry to word play to questions relating to physics and geology.

We guarantee that you will solve some of these riddles, be stumped by others, and be amused by almost all of the stories and settings that Gardner has devised to raise these questions.



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About the Author

Martin Gardner-has published more that forty books including expository books on science, books exposing pseudoscience, a novel, and his The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 164 pages
  • Publisher: Mathematical Association of America (January 1987)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0883856328
  • ISBN-13: 978-0883856321
  • Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,283,844 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

For 25 of his 95 years, Martin Gardner wrote 'Mathematical Games and Recreations', a monthly column for Scientific American magazine. These columns have inspired hundreds of thousands of readers to delve more deeply into the large world of mathematics. He has also made significant contributions to magic, philosophy, debunking pseudoscience, and children's literature. He has produced more than 60 books, including many best sellers, most of which are still in print. His Annotated Alice has sold more than a million copies. He continues to write a regular column for the Skeptical Inquirer magazine.

 

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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Gardner is again, as always, at his best, September 7, 2002
This review is from: Riddles of the Sphinx (New Mathematical Library) (Paperback)
I would be thoroughly justified in causing my online thesaurus to heat up and spout smoke from my searching for new superlatives to describe the mathematical writing of Martin Gardner. His problems and puzzles have been a constant source of interest and entertainment from the first time I encountered them decades ago, and this collection is more of the same. These thirty six puzzles were first published in Gardners regular column that used to appear in Isaac Asimovs Science Fiction Magazine, which is where I first read them.
Gardner has been quoted as saying that the reason that he does so well in writing about mathematics is that he really doesnt know that much about it. I consider this his only serious published mistake. He has shown an amazing depth of understanding of most areas of mathematics, which is necessary for one to write about it so well.
These puzzles cover the usual broad spectrum of a Gardner collection, everything from the magic of numbers to encounters with bizarre aliens is the setting for a puzzle. Detailed solutions to all are included, some of which are in serial form, with answer number one raising a question solved in answer two, sometimes all the way to answer four.
No one has done more to make mathematics interesting and palatable to the general public than Martin Gardner. Whether he is writing problems or puzzles, he is capable of turning a math problem into a story or a story into a math problem. If he were ever to grab a piece of chalk and start teaching, he would put the rest of us to shame.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
Dr. Mitsu Matsu, the world-renowned genetic engineer, was the first to construct two-dimensional life forms. Read the first page
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helical stripe, gold talent, giant number, answers section, infinite level, magic square
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First Answers, Second Answers, Third Answers, New York, Great Aleph, Martin Gardner, Scientific American, Ensign Pulver, Lieutenant Flarp, Old Testament, Valley of Lost Things, Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, American Mathematical Monthly, Colonel Couth, Paradox Lake, United States
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