Mathematical Games

by Martin Gardner

Martin Gardner's "Mathematical Games" column ran in Scientific American from
1956 to 1986. In these columns Gardner introduced hundreds of thousands of
readers to the delights of mathematics and of puzzles and problem solving. His
column broke such stories as Rivest, Shamir and Adelman on public-key
cryptography, Mandelbrot on fractals, Conway on Life, and Penrose on tilings. He
enlivened classic geometry and number theory and introduced readers to new areas
such as combinatorics and graph theory.

Now, this material has been brought together on one, searchable CD.

Martin Gardner is the author of more than 65 books and countless articles,
ranging over science, mathematics, philosophy, literature, and conjuring. He has
inspired and enlightened generations with the delights of mathematical
recreations, the amazing phenomena of numbers, magic, puzzles, and the play of
ideas. He is our premier writer on recreational mathematics, a great popularizer
of science and a debunker of pseudoscience.

A profile and interview with martin Gardner is included in this
collection.

Genres: Mathematics, Games, Nonfiction, Logic, Science

4500 pages, CD-ROM

First published May 1, 1975

About the author

Martin Gardner was an American mathematics and science writer specializing in recreational mathematics, but with interests encompassing micromagic, stage magic, literature (especially the writings of Lewis Carroll), philosophy, scientific skepticism, and religion. He wrote the Mathematical Games column in Scientific American from 1956 to 1981, and published over 70 books.

Reviews

[Matt Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

The full collection of Martin Gardner's Mathematical Games columns from Scientific American. I remember reading these in Scientific American when I was a teenager. One of the first things I did when I learned to program BASIC on my Coleco ADAM was to write a program to run the Game of Life. I recently made a hexaflexagon for the first time since I was in my early teens. Lots of great stuff to try in this.