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Martin Gardner
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Martin Gardner s Mathematical Games: The Entire Collection of His Scientific American Columns Cdr Edition

by Martin Gardner (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 31 ratings
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The entire collection of Martin Gardner's Scientific American columns on one searchable CD! Martin Gardner’s “Mathematical Games” column ran in Scientific American from 1956 to 1986. In these columns Gardner introduced hundreds of thousands of readers to the delights of mathematics and of puzzles and problem solving. His column broke such stories as Rivest, Shamir and Adelman on public-key cryptography, Mandelbrot on fractals, Conway on Life, and Penrose on tilings. He enlivened classic geometry and number theory and introduced readers to new areas such as combinatorics and graph theory. The CD contains the following books: 1. Hexaflexagons and Other Mathematical Diversions 2. The Second Scientific American Book of Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions 3. New Mathematical Diversions 4. The Unexpected Hanging and Other Mathematical Diversions 5. Martin Gardner’s 6th Book of Mathematical Diversions from Scientific American 6. Mathematical Carnival 7. Mathematical Magic Show 8. Mathematical Circus 9. The Magic Numbers of Dr. Matrix 10. Wheels, Life, and Other Mathematical Amusements 11. Knotted Doughnuts and Other Mathematical Entertainers 12. Time Travel and Other Mathematical Bewilderments 13. Penrose Tiles to Trapdoor Ciphers 14. Fractal Music, Hypercards, and more Mathematical Recreations from Scientific American 15. The Last Recreations: Hydras, Eggs, and Other Mathematical Mystifications. A profile and interview with Martin Gardner is included in this collection
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  1. ISBN-10
    0883855453
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0883855454
  3. Edition
    Cdr
  4. Publisher
    Amer Mathematical Society
  5. Publication date
    May 5, 2005
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    5 x 0.75 x 7.75 inches
  8. Print length
    4500 pages
  9. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Amer Mathematical Society; Cdr edition (May 5, 2005)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • CD-ROM ‏ : ‎ 4500 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0883855453
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0883855454
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 4.8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 0.75 x 7.75 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 31 ratings

About the author

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Martin Gardner

Martin Gardner

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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.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
We don’t use a simple average to calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star. Our system gives more weight to certain factors—including how recent the review is and if the reviewer bought it on Amazon. Learn more
31 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Chanel
5.0 out of 5 stars Love it but cd rom is not useful anymore
Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2023
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Love it but cd rom is not useful anymore
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Geoff Sturges
5.0 out of 5 stars Martin Gardner's Mathematical Games
Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2013
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I used to own several of Martin Gardner's books, but unfortunately lent them to my daughter who promptly lost them. This CD has brought back lots of happy memories, plus the bonus of reading some of the books that I had never read before. Martin Gardner and Scientific American are part of my youth (even though they couldn't spell true English). They broadened my horizons and contributed to my love of maths (math to some of you).
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bob crumrine
5.0 out of 5 stars This is the ultimate collection for a great price. Anybody into recreational math or even into ...
Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2017
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This is the ultimate collection for a great price. Anybody into recreational math or even into interesting puzzles will love this. Math is everywhere and it is explained in a fun way. Hard to find Mr. Gardner's Scientific American collections anymore so this is a major treat.
One person found this helpful
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Eric Moorehead
5.0 out of 5 stars INSPIRATIONAL
Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2016
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WONDERFUL
NOW A BARGAIN

GREAT FOR ANYONE WHO WANTS TO SEE THE MOST INTERESTING PARTS OF MATHEMATICS AND PUZZLES.
MARTIN HAS INSPIRED MANY
AND PROBABLY EXPANDED MANY MINDS, INCREASED LIFETIME ABILITIES, FRIENDSHIPS, MAYBE EVEN SUCCESS IN READERS LIVES.
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D. Neff
4.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous content, some image transfer issues
Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2007
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Martin Gardner's 30 years of Mathematical Games columns in Scientific American magazine are some of the most fun and interesting reading I've enjoyed. I searched out back issues in the high school library, had my own subscription, and collected as many of the books as I could find. When I was looking for one of the books I didn't have and found this complete collection, I immediately ordered it. There are very few authors in any field who are as clear in their writing and as enthusiastic in their delivery as he is. The content is easily worth the full 5 stars.

But the reason I dropped the rating to 4 for this particular edition is its sometimes haphazard quality of image scans. In the worst cases, the color or shading in the original figures is now black-and-white and of such high contrast that important distinctions are mostly or completely lost. For example, the reversi piece colors in figure 29 of "New Mathematical Diversions" are indistinguishable as are the four-color map areas (of all things!) in figure 43. Many figures show moire patterns from rescanning the original halftones. Yet other figures have been reproduced with much greater care, even in color. Some pages with landscape layout have been rotated for easier reading but others have not. In a few cases, the black-and-white photographs in my books have been replaced with much better color photos. Some books are missing a back cover scan.

The oddest example though, and somehow in keeping with the topic, is figure 109 in "Fractal Music". In my copy of the book, this is a reproduction of Magritte's "The Two Mysteries" and the caption says so. In this edition, it is a redrawn version and the caption now says it is "a caricature" of the Magritte work. At least 4 of the books appear to be affected by poor images and at least 6 of them appear to be fine.

Despite these problems, it's very handy to have the complete set of books in one place. But I'll be keeping the 4 books with the bad scans until a new edition fixes them.
25 people found this helpful
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Scrimshaw_64
5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Have for the Recreational Mathematician
Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2009
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There little I can add from previous reviews except I'm in agreement. This is an incredible collection of timeless classic Scientific American articles. Scientific American does not offer these as reprints. Plus there a a number of other Martin Gardner items that never were in Scientific American. I'll use these in my classes.
One person found this helpful
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Chris Wood
2.0 out of 5 stars DVD Will not mount on a current Mac
Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2020
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The current version of MacOS, Catalina, does not support Apple_HFS, the file system on this disk. So there's a fair amount of work before Mac users can use this.

I'm hoping that I will be able to get to the content, and it will be as good as promised. so I might edit this review later.

It took about 2 1/2 hours for this software developer to download the necessary tools and type the necessary commands to get information off of this disk. Anyone buying older CD-ROMS has got to beware. It's not just the file format has to be one that is currently readable, and Adobe's PDF has done well in that regard, but also the file system format, and Apple did the public and the publishing world a huge disservice removing HFS support from MacOS. Read-Only access would have been good enough.

As others have noted, these are reprints from the printed books, not the Scientific American articles, so some color illustrations were replaced with black-and-white, and that affects readability.

On the plus side, you get to read Martin Gardner. All his columns, plus an interview with him, and a bit of a biography.
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Mr. X
5.0 out of 5 stars Great update to Martin's Canon
Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2016
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This is an excellent way to search for an item and to read any updates as opposed to hunting via the originally published fifteen book Canon or thru old back issues at the library.
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Dr. Ron Knott
5.0 out of 5 stars His books are so popular and have inspired many who have gone on to enjoy maths the rest of their lives
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 13, 2014
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All of Gardners works on my tablet and computer...wow! His books are so popular and have inspired many who have gone on to enjoy maths the rest of their lives.
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emmetclarke
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 13, 2016
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