536 Puzzles & Curious Problems

by Henry Ernest Dudeney, Martin Gardner (Editor)

Henry Ernest Dudeney was England's greatest maker of puzzles. With respect to mathematical puzzles, especially problems of more than trivial mathematical interest, the quantity and quality of his output surpassed that of any other puzzlist before or since, in or out of England. This book contains almost the entire contents of two of Dudeney's best books, Modern Puzzles and Puzzles and Curious Problems, which have long been out of print and are extremely hard to obtain. The puzzles are presented in such a manner to attract readers who have only an elementary acquaintance with mathematics, as well as those who possess a more advanced knowledge of the science; and they are classified in such a way that the reader can easily satisfy his preference for any particular "Arithmetical and Algebraical Problems", "Geometircal Problems", "Combinatorial and Topological Problems", "Game Puzzles", Domino Puzzles", "Match Puzzles" and Unclassified Puzzles". Solutions are presented for each of the 536 problems in this huge collection.

Genres: Puzzles, Mathematics, Nonfiction

428 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1967

About the author

married to Mrs. Henry Dudeney

Reviews

[A Bushra · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is quite a delightful book, many of the puzzles here (especially the ones on combinatorics, number theory, and topology) are quite interesting and have a lot of mathematical thought hidden within them. They have the beauty of being both quite conceptually challenging without necessarily requiring mathematical background.

I recommend familiarising oneself with permutations, combinations, and factorials for the combinatorics section.

However, it does alas include what I call pseudo-puzzles. Questions where it appears quite mathematical/logical, but the solution is either a trivial play on words, a arbitrary conversion of numbers to roman numerals, a random flipping of the paper upside down ...etc. I find these rather irritating. Perhaps it would have been better to have 400 or so good puzzles and leave it at that.


PS: All of the currency and distance questions are in imperial instead of decimal. Don't let this discourage you however, it can just easily be considered part of the puzzle.

[Tim Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good collection of puzzles, but showing its age. Who now remembers "The Turkish stampede in Thrace"? (Hint: 1913). Some of the explanations are a bit perfunctory. Still , Dudeney was undoubtedly the foremost puzzlist of his age, and many of these puzzles remain classics today.

[Dariia · Rating 5 out of 5]

How I cured my depression.

[Christopher Manske · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the author that brought us The Canterbury Puzzles and How to Teach English With Technology, comes another robust tome of problems separated into six different genres: Arithmetical & Algebraical; Geometrical; Games; Domino; Topological; and Match puzzles. A satisfying hard-cover for anyone wishing to test their mental limits.

[Chris Peckover · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are a lot of problems in this book that will make your eyes roll when you look up the solutions (esoteric formulas they expected you to know, or straight out time wasters that require hours of trial and error), but there are also a lot of beautiful problems that made this worth the groaners. Highly recommended if you're looking for a challenge.

[Nicholas Faist · Rating 5 out of 5]

Forgot about this one, It's just filled with interesting problems to try and solve. Pretty sure I have gone through this book attempting the problems at least half a dozen times since I was a kid and pick it back up every so often just to have a brainteaser.

[Notink · Rating 3 out of 5]

not so mathematical

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

While puzzles with a mathematical theme have been around for thousands of years, two people that lived in the nineteenth century codified the field and developed most of the forms of puzzles that people still enjoy today. In the United States the foremost creator of mathematical puzzles was Sam Loyd and in Great Britain it was Henry Ernest Dudeney.
This book was edited by the late great recreational mathematician Martin Gardner and he has selected many of the best puzzles produced by Dudeney. The breadth of the material is so thorough that you could take nearly any puzzle book published in the last decade and recognize the ancestry of all the puzzles from those in this book.
The main categories of the puzzles are:

*) Arithmetical and algebraic problems
*) Geometrical problems
*) Combinatorial and topological problems
*) Game puzzles
*) Domino puzzles
*) Match puzzles
*) Unclassified puzzles

Clear solutions to all of the problems are given in Gardner’s unique and understandable style. This is a great book for all to enjoy, it will exercise your mental muscles and like all great puzzles, the solutions are in almost all cases obvious in retrospect.

This review appears on Amazon.

[Maurizio Codogno · Rating 4 out of 5]

Henry Dudeney è stato il maggior creatore britannico di problemi dell'inizio del secolo scorso. A differenza del suo collega e rivale Sam Loyd - e si nota subito la differenza tra un inglese e un americano! - è sempre stato attento a dare il giusto credito agli altri; ma soprattutto era anche un matematico dilettante, e quindi molti dei suoi giochi hanno un certo qual gusto matematico. Questo libro, edito dall'onnipresente Martin Gardner, raccoglie due sue opere: Modern Puzzles e Puzzles and Curious Problems. Si nota chiaramente che con gli anni Dudeney ha migliorato le sue conoscenze matematiche, e osa molto di più di quanto facesse nei suoi primi libri. Per dire, c'è anche una "dimostrazione" del teorema dei quattro colori... Certamente lo stile dei problemi è molto diverso da quelli che prediligiamo oggi, ma ci sono delle gemme nascoste che vale la pena di leggere. Le note di Martin Gardner sono poche ma preziose, raccontando degli ulteriori miglioramenti di alcuni risultati o dei (pochi) errori del libro. Io me lo sono comprato di seconda mano - ovviamente è fuori commercio da anni - e ne sono felice :)