Game, Set and Math: Enigmas and Conundrums

by Ian Stewart

Twelve essays take a playful approach to the subject, exploring how to play poker over the telephone without the possibility of cheating, how to distinguish plausible fallacies from unbelievable facts, and how to cope mathematically with contorted worms, drunken tennis players, and snakes that eat their own tails.
Former columnist for Scientific American 's "Mathematical Games" section, Ian Stewart is a professor at the University of Warwick and the author of Another Fine Math You've Got Me Into... and a score of other books of mathematical recreations, popular science, and science fiction. In this collection of pun-studded fables, he once again exercises his immense talent for transforming complicated concepts of modern mathematics into stimulating, accessible fun. Stewart introduces the different kinds of infinity, explains how to build your own virus, explores the brighter ideas of Pascal and Fermat, and even offers a dozen different puzzles for the twelve days of Christmas.

Genres: Mathematics, Nonfiction, Science, Puzzles, Reference

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Ian Nicholas Stewart is an Emeritus Professor and Digital Media Fellow in the Mathematics Department at Warwick University, with special responsibility for public awareness of mathematics and science. He is best known for his popular science writing on mathematical themes.
--from the author's website

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See other authors with similar names.

Reviews

[Maurizio Codogno]

Già il titolo la dice lunga, essendo un pun su "Game, set and match": e in effetti un capitolo di questo libro è dedicato a calcolare la probabilità di vincere una partita a tennis, sapendo di avere una probabilità fissa di vincere un singolo punto. Ma in generale il libro è costellato di giochi di parole, che potrebbero rendere più difficile la comprensione della matematica dietro di essi. Però in generale vale la pena di leggerlo, non c'è nulla di troppo complicato e i temi sono vari e piacevoli.

Per le miserie della traduzione italiana, verifica quanto ho scritto al riguardo: http://www.anobii.com/books/01d9d6364...

[Robin Gilbert]

As a self confessed recreational mathematician I understood just enough to be amazed and baffled in equal measure, and piqued by some, but not all of the chapters. Perhaps giving some of the characters accents was a mistake.

[Deryk Rumbold]

I appreciate Stewart's ability to weave multiple steps in his subject with increasing depth as he continues an overarching narrative (even if it is as goofy as a drunk man always winning tennis.). I think this style especially shines in his essay in which he time travels to talk to Fermat about his last Theorem.

[Enrique Oviedo]

Un libro más de matemáticas recreativas. Muchos lugares comunes que aparecen en otros libros.
Además, no me parece que el escritor sea especialmente hábil para explicar los temas más complejos. Le llamaban el sucesor de Martin Gardner... ni de lejos.

[Darin]

The math is a good source for examples of how math applies to real-world situations, with each chapter focusing on different problems. My issue with the book is that the author almost always makes up a story in which two or more people are having a disagreement about something and one of the people use math to resolve the disagreement. I don't know if the author does this because he thinks it is interesting or if he is just trying to fill space, but I prefer more straight-forward discussions of the relevant problems and math.

Note that I believe (and follow) the meanings Goodreads gives for what each number of stars means. Therefore, the majority of my ratings are 3 stars ("liked it").