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Miodrag Petković
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Famous Puzzles of Great Mathematicians

by Miodrag S. Petkovic (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 9 ratings
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This entertaining book presents a collection of 180 famous mathematical puzzles and intriguing elementary problems that great mathematicians have posed, discussed, and/or solved. The selected problems do not require advanced mathematics, making this book accessible to a variety of readers. Mathematical recreations offer a rich playground for both amateur and professional mathematicians. Believing that creative stimuli and aesthetic considerations are closely related, great mathematicians from ancient times to the present have always taken an interest in puzzles and diversions. The goal of this book is to show that famous mathematicians have all communicated brilliant ideas, methodological approaches, and absolute genius in mathematical thoughts by using recreational mathematics as a framework. Concise biographies of many mathematicians mentioned in the text are also included. The majority of the mathematical problems presented in this book originated in number theory, graph theory, optimization, and probability. Others are based on combinatorial and chess problems, while still others are geometrical and arithmetical puzzles. This book is intended to be both entertaining as well as an introduction to various intriguing mathematical topics and ideas. Certainly, many stories and famous puzzles can be very useful to prepare classroom lectures, to inspire and amuse students, and to instill affection for mathematics.
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  1. ISBN-10
    0821848143
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0821848142
  3. Publisher
    American Mathematical Society
  4. Publication date
    September 2, 2009
  5. Language
    English
  6. Dimensions
    7 x 0.75 x 10.25 inches
  7. Print length
    325 pages
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

The author has done an admirably accurate and thorough job in presenting his material... The problems are here, their histories are here, the mathematics needed to solve them is here. The book would be the ideal graduation present for a mathematics major, an ideal prize for the winner of an integration contest, an ideal book to have lying around a mathematics department (if properly chained down, that is). --MAA Reviews

Famous Puzzles of Great Mathematicians reminds us that puzzles are a big part of the history of mathematics. I daresay many mathematicians were sucked into the field by puzzles, such as those disseminated by the late Martin Gardner in his "Mathematical Games" column in Scientific American, 1956-1986. ... What is a puzzle, anyway -- in particular, a mathematical puzzle? To me it is an engaging, self-contained mathematical question. ... [This book] ... contains (by my debatable count) 180 puzzles of which 30% are tasks, 25% historical, 20% natural, 10% examplars, 10% riddles, 4% obstacles, and 1% paradoxes. To these the book adds some entertaining and enlightening information about great mathematicians from Archimedes to Knuth. The puzzles themselves are (mostly) solved with undergraduate-level mathematics, making the book ideal for leaving within easy reach of current or potential mathematics majors. --Peter Winkler, American Mathematical Monthly

Famous Puzzles of Great Mathematicians contains a nice collection of recreational mathematics problems and puzzles, problems whose solutions do not rely on knowledge of advanced mathematics. ... Despite its recreational nature, this book does not give up on being rigorous in its arguments, nor does it shy away from presenting some difficult problems, albeit solvable by elementary methods. ... What makes this book especially compelling is Petkovi 's efforts in putting the problems into context. He makes it clear that math is a human subject, with its own stories and history. ... [I] wholeheartedly recommend it to a wide variety of audiences. ... Petkovi aims to bring his readers closer to the ideas of brilliant mathematicians, and I believe he succeeds. This book would be especially appropriate for undergraduates or even high school students with aptitude in mathematics. They should find Famous Puzzles of Great Mathematicians both very informative and fun, and might even become inspired to explore a career in math. --Lev Reyzin, ACM SIGACT News

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ American Mathematical Society (September 2, 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 325 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0821848143
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0821848142
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.32 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7 x 0.75 x 10.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 9 ratings

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Miodrag Petković

Miodrag Petković

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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
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9 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Ed Pegg Jr
5.0 out of 5 stars After Gardner, get this
Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2011
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If you're interested in recreational mathematics, first get  Martin Gardner's Mathematical Games . His collection of 15 books is the core of the whole field.

After collecting the Gardner books, this is a good next book to get.

The power of recreational math -- and a boy, it got me to like math. I was able to read about math that was fun. In grade school, the curriculum seemed designed to make math boring. I learned to use a calculator... and basic programming .. to skip the boring stuff. Math became useful.

This book has a good overview of all the funner material in mathematics.
2 people found this helpful
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HamburgMD
5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining and thought provoking
Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2012
I really enjoyed reading this book and thinking about the puzzles in it - if you are a fan of recreational mathematics books by Martin Gardner, I am sure you will enjoy this too. The book contains an entertaining collection of famous puzzles posed, solved or discussed by great mathematicians ranging from Archimedes to the present day. It is arranged in several broad categories including number theory, combinatorics, chess, graph theory, geometry, and probability. While the mathematics behind the puzzles can be understood by any reader with a good grasp of high-school level mathematics, they would also be interesting and thought provoking for readers with a more advanced mathematical background. Complete solutions of most of the puzzles are given, together with interesting comments and related variants.

A particularly appealing aspect of the book is the way in which the puzzles themselves and presented alongside biographical information and anecdotes about the lives of the mathematicians involved.
One person found this helpful
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Naissus
5.0 out of 5 stars An interesting and entertaining read
Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2012
I read a lot of books in recreational mathematics, and this book is one of my favorites.
There are at least three reasons that make this book excellent: very intriguing and entertaining
puzzles, interesting stories and anecdotes from the lives of great mathematicians and very useful
concise biographies of these giants of science. And great illustrations too! Solving these puzzles,
some of which are famous tasks, is a real pleasure.

There is no any problem with difficult tasks; complete solutions are given without the use of
advanced mathematics. In particular, the reader can meet very nice introductory problems in many
branches of mathematics and learn a lot of curious and interesting mathematical facts.

I warmly recommend this book to amateurs and professional mathematicians.
5 people found this helpful
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Michailidis Konstantinos
4.0 out of 5 stars Before anything , get this
Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2011
A well structured book from ancient times to modernity.Successful historical background and solutions to most problems described in the book.I would suggest this as an introductory book to math puzzles.
One person found this helpful
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pete
2.0 out of 5 stars Two Stars
Reviewed in the United States on February 21, 2016
everything in this book has been recounted many times before.
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