Synopses & Reviews
Gardner's second collection of amusing, thought-provoking problems and puzzles from Loyd's Cyclopedia — perhaps the most exciting collection of puzzles ever assembled in one volume. Arithmetic, algebra, speed and distance problems, game theory, counter and sliding block problems, similar topics. 166 problems. 150 original drawings, diagrams.
Synopsis
Sam Loyd (1841-1911) was America's greatest originator of puzzles. For more than 50 years, his ingenious posers, appearing in innumerable newspaper and magazine articles, stumped and delighted an American public running into the millions. (Four or five of his mechanical puzzles became national crazes.) After Loyd's death, his son issued a vast collection of these problems in a book entitled -Cyclopedia of Puzzles- -- probably the most famous and exciting collection of puzzles ever assembled in one volume.
Now Martin Gardner, a well-known author of many science and puzzle books and articles, has selected the choicest mathematical puzzles contained in the long out-of-print -Cyclopedia, - editing each one for accuracy and clarity, but in such a way as not to sacrifice the unique style and historical flavor of the originals. This is the second volume of Gardner's selection to appear, and contains 166 of Loyd's most brilliant and original creations, together with the 150 line drawings and diagrams with which they were originally illustrated.
A distinctive feature of this new selection is the analytical table of contents, which groups the puzzles according to the type of mathematical skill necessary to solve them. Whatever your taste in mathematical puzzles, you will be able to locate easily puzzles based on arithmetic and algebra; speed and distance problems; game theory; operations research; clock problems; plane geometry; geometrical dissection; route tracing and topological problems; counter and sliding block problems; sold geometry; and physics and calculus problems.
About the Author
Martin Gardner was a renowned author who published over 70 books on subjects from science and math to poetry and religion. He also had a lifelong passion for magic tricks and puzzles. Well known for his mathematical games column in
Scientific American and his "Trick of the Month" in
Physics Teacher magazine, Gardner attracted a loyal following with his intelligence, wit, and imagination.
Martin Gardner: A Remembrance
The worldwide mathematical community was saddened by the death of Martin Gardner on May 22, 2010. Martin was 95 years old when he died, and had written 70 or 80 books during his long lifetime as an author. Martin's first Dover books were published in 1956 and 1957: Mathematics, Magic and Mystery, one of the first popular books on the intellectual excitement of mathematics to reach a wide audience, and Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science, certainly one of the first popular books to cast a devastatingly skeptical eye on the claims of pseudoscience and the many guises in which the modern world has given rise to it. Both of these pioneering books are still in print with Dover today along with more than a dozen other titles of Martin's books. They run the gamut from his elementary Codes, Ciphers and Secret Writing, which has been enjoyed by generations of younger readers since the 1980s, to the more demanding The New Ambidextrous Universe: Symmetry and Asymmetry from Mirror Reflections to Superstrings, which Dover published in its final revised form in 2005.
To those of us who have been associated with Dover for a long time, however, Martin was more than an author, albeit a remarkably popular and successful one. As a member of the small group of long-time advisors and consultants, which included NYU's Morris Kline in mathematics, Harvard's I. Bernard Cohen in the history of science, and MIT's J. P. Den Hartog in engineering, Martin's advice and editorial suggestions in the formative 1950s helped to define the Dover publishing program and give it the point of view which — despite many changes, new directions, and the consequences of evolution — continues to be operative today.
In the Author's Own Words:
"Politicians, real-estate agents, used-car salesmen, and advertising copy-writers are expected to stretch facts in self-serving directions, but scientists who falsify their results are regarded by their peers as committing an inexcusable crime. Yet the sad fact is that the history of science swarms with cases of outright fakery and instances of scientists who unconsciously distorted their work by seeing it through lenses of passionately held beliefs."
"A surprising proportion of mathematicians are accomplished musicians. Is it because music and mathematics share patterns that are beautiful?" — Martin Gardner
Table of Contents
Arithmetic and Algebraic Problems
Lewis Carroll's Monkey Puzzle
The Price of Eggs
Conscientious Milkman
The Five Newsboys
How Old Is Mary?
The Match Problem
Jack Sprat
The Miser's Puzzle
Contracting Costs
The Missing Link
Texas Drovers
How Old Is Biddy?
The General Store Puzzle
How Many Chickens?
The Leaning Tower of Pisa Puzzle
Peddler Pete
How Old Is Pocahontas?
A Puzzle in Oil and Vinegar
The Hat that Didn't Sell
Christians and Turks
Coming to Town
How Old Is Fido?
The Inspector's Problem
Merry Go Round Puzzle
Mrs. Wiggs' Cabbages
The Centennial Problem
Dividing the Spoils
The Weight of a Brick
Puzzling Scales
Squaring Accounts--A Temperance Puzzle
The Three Beggars
Puzzling Prattle
The Telegraph Poles
An Odd Catch
The Disappointed Pensioners
Problems of History
Lord Rosslyn's System
"At the "Zoo"
Trading in Puzzleland
Squaring the Swastika
Trading Lots Puzzle
Trading in the Philippines
Losing at Cinch
How Old Is the Boy?
Longfellow's Bees
Common Stock
Dirty Linen
The Reaper's Problem
Puzzle of Grandfather's Clock
Archery Puzzle
The Graces and the Muses
Dunce Puzzle
O'Shaugnessy's Estate
Dividing his Flocks
The Missing Number
How Large Was the Farm?
Turkey vs. Goose
What Did the Suit Sell For?
How Old Is Jimmy?
Red Bananas
The Wild Man of Borneo Puzzle
Twenty Pieces of Candy
Puzzling Partnerships
The Shy Storekeeper
William Tell in Puzzleland
Cups and Saucers
The Mathematical Milkman
Dividing Apples
Marbles for Keeps
Mixed Tea
How Old Is the Boss?
Our Columbus Problem
Mother's Jam Puzzle
Puppies and Rats
Division of Capital
Mrs. Hogan's Clothes Line
Jones' Cows
The Shady Grove
Horse Trade
Quick Deal
Puzzle of an Eccentric Will
The Famous Hot Cross Bun Puzzle
Bill Sykes
Speed and Distance Problems
Weary Willie
The Ferry Boat Problem
Jack and Jill
Tom the Piper's Son
The Leaning Tower of Pisa Puzzle
Against the Wind
Inverness to Glasgow
How Far to Piketown?
The Telegraph Poles
Cross-Country Running
Beating the Record
Tandem Bicycle
The Owl Express
Diminishing Power
Skating Puzzle
Polar Bride
Professor Blumgarten and the Peace Congress
Aesop's Eagle
The Hare and the Tortoise
The Courier Problem
The Steeplechase Puzzle
Casey's Cow
Clock Problems
The Assassin's Bullet
A Question of Time
The Two Watches
Puzzle of Grandfather's Clock
Game Theory Problems
Rip Van Winkle Puzzle
A Daisy Puzzle Game
Catching a Christmas Turkey
The Wild Man of Borneo Puzzle
Operations Research Problems
Milkman's Puzzle
The Switch Problem
The Missing Link
Tandem Bicycle
The Mathematical Milkman
The Fire Escape Puzzle
Plane Geometry Problems
The Royal Road to Learning
The Pig Sty Problem
The Pony Cart Problem
Bo-Peep's Pen
The Only Square Game on the Beach
Trading Lots Puzzle
The Reaper's Problem
Cross-Country Running
Disputed Claims
Lincoln's Rail Puzzle
King Solomon's Seal
The Electrical Problem
Little Bo-Peep in Puzzleland
Geometrical Dissection Problems
The Royal Road to Learning
Cross and Crescent
Puzzleland Gingerbread
Greek Cross Problems
The Goose Puzzle
The Crusaders
An Old Saw with New Teeth
The Monad Puzzle
Sawing the Checkerboard
Trading in Puzzleland
Squaring the Swastika
The Remnant Puzzle
Red Cross Volunteers
Two From One
The King's of Siam's Tricks
Remnant Bargains
Chick to Egg
A Square Deal
Jack and the Box Puzzle
The Mystery of the Boarding House Pie
Ancient Order of the Iron Cross
A Swiss Puzzle
The Royal Road to Mathematics
"Route, Tracing, and Topological Problems"
The Hammock Puzzle
The Pig in the Garden
The Patrolman's Puzzle
The Problem of London Tower
"Red Rum and Murder"
The Hidden Couplet
The King of Siam's Tricks
The Monkey's Puzzle
Santa's Christmas Turkey
Christopher's Egg Tricks
Switchboard Problem
Dick Whittington's Cat
Counter and Sliding Block Problems
The Scholar's Puzzle
The Moving Day Puzzle
Picket Posts
A Nautical Problem
"Peaches, Pears, Persimmons, and Plums"
A Study in Eggs
The Diamond Thief
Who Will Get the Nomination?
Christopher's Egg Tricks
The Jolly Friar's Puzzle
Infantry Drill
The Henry George Puzzle Game
Solid Geometry Problems
The Moon Problem
The Tinker's Puzzle
The Electrical Problem
Physics and Calculus Problems
Lewis Carroll's Monkey Puzzle
Tom the Piper's Son
The Leaning Tower of Pisa Puzzle
Professor Blumgarten and the Peace Congress
The Steeplechase Puzzle