Exploring Math Through Puzzles: Step-by-Step Instructions for Making Over 50 Puzzles

by Wei Zhang

Exploring Math Through Puzzles includes step-by-step instructions for making a Soma Cube, Instant Insanity, the Chinese Rings and more than 50 other puzzles. All the puzzles can be made from the simplest of materials—strings, beads, wire, and common household items—and can be solved by even novice puzzle makers. This fun and informative book contains extensive notes that discuss the history and the background of each puzzle. The book also provides practical tips for making the puzzles and lists of materials and additional resources. The puzzles in this book were selected to inspire thinking about a wide range of mathematical topics—and they emphasize three-dimensional visualization and problem-solving in an enjoyable, hands-on context. Parents and teachers will appreciate the related mathematical activities that are also included. Puzzlers of all ages will be fascinated by making and solving their own puzzles— and then using them to challenge friends and family. Exploring Math Through Puzzles makes exploring math fun!

128 pages, Paperback

Published September 21, 2011

About the author

Zhang Wei (simplified Chinese: 张炜; traditional Chinese: 張煒; pinyin: Zhāng Wěi; born November 1955) is a Chinese author. He was born in China's northern province of Shandong. He graduated from the Chinese Department at Yantai Normal College in 1980. Three years later, he became a member of Chinese Writers Association, an organization for which he has served as chairman and deputy chairman of the Shandong branch. He is best known for his novels The Ancient Ship and September's Fable. In 2011 Zhang won the Mao Dun Literature Prize, the highest national literary award, for On the Plateau, a 10-volume work that took a decade to write.

(from Wikipedia)