" The classic work on recreational math in English."—Martin Gardner
For nearly a century, this sparkling classic has provided stimulating hours of entertainment to the mathematically inclined. The problems posed here often involve fundamental mathematical methods and notions, but their chief appeal is their capacity to tease and delight. In these pages you will find scores of "recreations" to amuse you and to challenge your problem-solving faculties—often to the limit. Now in its 13th edition, Mathematical Recreations and Essays has been thoroughly revised and updated over the decades since its first publication in 1892. This latest edition retains all the remarkable character of the original, but the terminology and treatment of some problems have been updated and new material has been added. Among the challenges in store for Arithmetical and geometrical recreations; Polyhedra; Chess-board recreations; Magic squares; Map-coloring problems; Unicursal problems; Cryptography and cryptanalysis; Calculating prodigies; … and more. You'll even find problems which mathematical ingenuity can solve but the computer cannot. No knowledge of calculus or analytic geometry is necessary to enjoy these games and puzzles. With basic mathematical skills and the desire to meet a challenge you can put yourself to the test and win. "A must to add to your mathematics library."— The Mathematics Teacher
Walter William Rouse Ball, known as W. W. Rouse Ball (14 August 1850 – 4 April 1925), was a British mathematician, lawyer, and fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge from 1878 to 1905. He was also a keen amateur magician, and the founding president of the Cambridge Pentacle Club in 1919, one of the world's oldest magic societies.
Rouse Ball was educated at University College School, he entered Trinity College, Cambridge in 1870, where he became a scholar and the first winner of Smith's Prize. He gained his BA in 1874 as second Wrangler and then became a Fellow of Trinity in 1875, which he remained for the rest of his life.
He is buried at the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground in Cambridge, and is commemorated in the naming of a small pavilion situated on Jesus Green in Cambridge. The Rouse Ball Professorship of Mathematics and the Rouse Ball Professorship at English Law, both held at Cambridge, were created in 1927 from a bequest by Rouse Ball.
Книга издана в некогда суперпопулярной серии издательства "Мир" - "Математическая мозаика". Позиционируется, как энциклопедия занимательной математики, но написана очень тяжеловесно, да к тому же неэлементарно - регулярно всплывает и анализ и ряды и абстрактная алгебра и прочая. Те же задачи изложены в серии книг Мартина Гарднера (не фантаста, а математика-популяризатора) куда как более внятно. Но читать можно. Самая последняя глава, посвященная криптоанализу и криптографии, получилась самой занятной, но к настоящему времени изрядно устарела.