The Last Recreations: Hydras, Eggs, and Other Mathematical Mystifications

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Springer Science & Business Media, Dec 15, 2007 - Mathematics - 392 pages
Of all of Martin Gardner's writings, none gained him a wider audience or was more central to his reputation than his Mathematical Recreations column in "Scientific American", which virtually defined the genre of popular mathematics writing for a generation. Flatland, Hydras and Eggs: Mathematical Mystifications will be the final collection of these columns, covering a period roughly from 1979 to Gardner's retirement as a regular columnist in 1986. The notable trend over Gardner's career is the increasing sophistication of the mathematics he has been able to translate into his famously lucid prose. These columns show him at the top of his form and are not to be missed by anyone with an interest in mathematics. As always in his published collections, Gardner includes letters received from mathematicians and other commenting on the ideas presented in the columns.
 

Contents

The Wonders of a Planiverse
1
Bulgarian Solitaire and Other Seemingly Endless Tasks
27
Fun with Eggs Part I
45
The Topology of Knots
67
MPire Maps
85
Directed Graphs and Cannibals
101
Dinner Guests Schoolgirls and Handcuffed Prisoners
121
The Monster and Other Sporadic Groups
139
Taxicab Geometry
159
The Power of the Pigeonhole
177
Strong Laws of Small Primes
191
Checker Recreations Part II
221
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About the author (2007)

Martin Gardner is the author of more than seventy books on a vast range of topics including "Did Adam & Eve Have Navels?", "Calculus Made Easy", & "The Annotated Alice". He lives in Hendersonville, North Carolina.

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