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Humanity's love affair with mathematics and mysticism reached a critical juncture, legend has it, on the back of a turtle in ancient China. As Clifford Pickover briefly recounts in this enthralling book, the most comprehensive in decades on magic squares, Emperor Yu was supposedly strolling along the Yellow River one day around 2200 B.C. when he spotted the creature: its shell had a series of dots within squares. To Yu's amazement, each row of squares contained fifteen dots, as did the columns and diagonals. When he added any two cells opposite along a line through the center square, like 2 and 8, he always arrived at 10. The turtle, unwitting inspirer of the ''Yu'' square, went on to a life of courtly comfort and fame. Pickover explains why Chinese emperors, Babylonian astrologer-priests, prehistoric cave people in France, and ancient Mayans of the Yucatan were convinced that magic squares--arrays filled with numbers or letters in certain arrangements--held the secret of the universe. Since the dawn of civilization, he writes, humans have invoked such patterns to ward off evil and bring good fortune. Yet who would have guessed that in the twenty-first century, mathematicians would be studying magic squares so immense and in so many dimensions that the objects defy ordinary human contemplation and visualization? Readers are treated to a colorful history of magic squares and similar structures, their construction, and classification along with a remarkable variety of newly discovered objects ranging from ornate inlaid magic cubes to hypercubes. Illustrated examples occur throughout, with some patterns from the author's own experiments. The tesseracts, circles, spheres, and stars that he presents perfectly convey the age-old devotion of the math-minded to this Zenlike quest. Number lovers, puzzle aficionados, and math enthusiasts will treasure this rich and lively encyclopedia of one of the few areas of mathematics where the contributions of even nonspecialists count.

Magic squares. --- Mathematical recreations. --- Mathematical puzzles --- Number games --- Recreational mathematics --- Recreations, Mathematical --- Puzzles --- Scientific recreations --- Games in mathematics education --- Magic squares --- Magic tricks in mathematics education --- Latin squares and rectangles --- Squares, Magic --- Number theory --- Mathematical recreations

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For extra credit or just for the fun of it-why not try a brainteaser? This collection brings together the first 100 brainteasers from Quantum magazine, published by the National Science Teachers Association in collaboration with the Russian magazine Kvant. Through its pages, you'll find number rebuses, geometry ticklers, logic puzzles, and quirky questions with a physics twist. Students and teachers alike will enjoy these fun quandaries.

Mathematical recreations. --- Mathematics --- Scientific recreations. --- Amusements --- Mathematical puzzles --- Number games --- Recreational mathematics --- Recreations, Mathematical --- Puzzles --- Scientific recreations --- Games in mathematics education --- Magic squares --- Magic tricks in mathematics education

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This second collection of interesting mathematical puzzles continues the tribute to Martin Gardner, who has provided us with original puzzles and puzzling stories ever since he created and produced the "Mathematical Games" column in Scientific American. The international community of puzzle enthusiasts has gathered once again to celebrate Martin Gardner's continued contribution and, most fittingly, has done so in kind, by providing new challenges to our inquiring minds. We proudly present this collection to the mathemagicians of the world for their enjoyment, as a playful provocation.

Mathematical recreations. --- Mathematical puzzles --- Number games --- Recreational mathematics --- Recreations, Mathematical --- Puzzles --- Scientific recreations --- Games in mathematics education --- Magic squares --- Magic tricks in mathematics education

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Flexagons are hinged polygons that have the intriguing property of displaying different pairs of faces when they are flexed. Workable paper models of flexagons are easy to make and entertaining to manipulate. Flexagons have a surprisingly complex mathematical structure and just how a flexagon works is not obvious on casual examination of a paper model. Flexagons may be appreciated at three different levels. Firstly as toys or puzzles, secondly as a recreational mathematics topic and finally as the subject of serious mathematical study. This book is written for anyone interested in puzzles or recreational maths. No previous knowledge of flexagons is assumed, and the only pre-requisite is some knowledge of elementary geometry. An attractive feature of the book is a collection of nets, with assembly instructions, for a wide range of paper models of flexagons. These are printed full size and laid out so they can be photocopied.

Polyhedra. --- Polyhedra --- Mathematical recreations --- Mathematics --- Physical Sciences & Mathematics --- Geometry --- Mathematical puzzles --- Number games --- Recreational mathematics --- Recreations, Mathematical --- Puzzles --- Scientific recreations --- Games in mathematics education --- Magic squares --- Magic tricks in mathematics education --- Geometrical models --- Models --- Mathematical recreations. --- Models.

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Have you ever daydreamed about digging a hole to the other side of the world? Robert Banks not only entertains such ideas but, better yet, he supplies the mathematical know-how to turn fantasies into problem-solving adventures. In this sequel to the popular Towing Icebergs, Falling Dominoes (Princeton, 1998), Banks presents another collection of puzzles for readers interested in sharpening their thinking and mathematical skills. The problems range from the wondrous to the eminently practical. In one chapter, the author helps us determine the total number of people who have lived on earth; in another, he shows how an understanding of mathematical curves can help a thrifty lover, armed with construction paper and scissors, keep expenses down on Valentine's Day. In twenty-six chapters, Banks chooses topics that are fairly easy to analyze using relatively simple mathematics. The phenomena he describes are ones that we encounter in our daily lives or can visualize without much trouble. For example, how do you get the most pizza slices with the least number of cuts? To go from point A to point B in a downpour of rain, should you walk slowly, jog moderately, or run as fast as possible to get least wet? What is the length of the seam on a baseball? If all the ice in the world melted, what would happen to Florida, the Mississippi River, and Niagara Falls? Why do snowflakes have six sides? Covering a broad range of fields, from geography and environmental studies to map- and flag-making, Banks uses basic algebra and geometry to solve problems. If famous scientists have also pondered these questions, the author shares the historical details with the reader. Designed to entertain and to stimulate thinking, this book can be read for sheer personal enjoyment.

Mathematical recreations. --- Games in mathematics education. --- Puzzles. --- Amusements --- Games --- Riddles --- Educational games --- Mathematics --- Mathematical recreations --- Mathematical puzzles --- Number games --- Recreational mathematics --- Recreations, Mathematical --- Puzzles --- Scientific recreations --- Games in mathematics education --- Magic squares --- Magic tricks in mathematics education --- Study and teaching