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Puzzle-math
Book by George Gamow, Marvin Stern
- GenresPuzzles
Hardcover
First published December 1, 1957
2 people are currently reading
30 people want to read
About the author
George Gamow
81 books245 followersGeorge Gamow (Russian pronunciation: [ˈɡaməf:]; March 4 [O.S. February 20:] 1904 – August 19, 1968), born Georgiy Antonovich Gamov (Георгий Антонович Гамов), was a theoretical physicist and cosmologist born in the Russian Empire. He discovered alpha decay via quantum tunneling and worked on radioactive decay of the atomic nucleus, star formation, stellar nucleosynthesis, big bang nucleosynthesis, cosmic microwave background, nucleocosmogenesis and genetics.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 26, 2021
I first heard about George Gamow through his book - One, Two, Three, Infinity. I found that book immensely inspiring. The sheer burst of clarity that was thrust on me on the topic of transfinite numbers motivated me to no end. I then found out that he had written many books on popular science. And that's when I stumbled onto this obscure, little gem.
Puzzle Math is a short book consisting of around 30 puzzles. The book is divided into 7 sections and there are 7 characters. Each puzzle is about a page long and nearly all the puzzles lead to an aha! insight.
The characters have an old world charm about them. However, the book was written in the 1950s and some of the premises of the questions would not be considered politically correct today. However, it is a book about Mathematics and that's what it should be read as.
There are several serious concepts which are explained without being named.
Harmonic Numbers Divergence
Divergence and Convergence of Infinite Series
Existence of Ether
Archimedes Principle
Mathematical Induction
Bijection
Intermediate Value Theorem
Graph Colouring
Frame of Reference
The puzzles are all fairly well known today. Although worded in a playful form, the puzzles teach genuine technique. Some important Mathematical knowledge is also presented indirectly such as the proof of the Harmonic Series' Divergence.
There are also several elegant puzzles about probability and Physics.
Here is one of the puzzles from the book - You are given a biased coin. You must decide the fate of two parties with this biased coin. How do you ensure that they are given an equal chance ?
Puzzle Math is a short book consisting of around 30 puzzles. The book is divided into 7 sections and there are 7 characters. Each puzzle is about a page long and nearly all the puzzles lead to an aha! insight.
The characters have an old world charm about them. However, the book was written in the 1950s and some of the premises of the questions would not be considered politically correct today. However, it is a book about Mathematics and that's what it should be read as.
There are several serious concepts which are explained without being named.
Harmonic Numbers Divergence
Divergence and Convergence of Infinite Series
Existence of Ether
Archimedes Principle
Mathematical Induction
Bijection
Intermediate Value Theorem
Graph Colouring
Frame of Reference
The puzzles are all fairly well known today. Although worded in a playful form, the puzzles teach genuine technique. Some important Mathematical knowledge is also presented indirectly such as the proof of the Harmonic Series' Divergence.
There are also several elegant puzzles about probability and Physics.
Here is one of the puzzles from the book - You are given a biased coin. You must decide the fate of two parties with this biased coin. How do you ensure that they are given an equal chance ?
Displaying 1 of 1 review