Mathematical Carnival

by Martin Gardner

s/t: From Penny Puzzles, Card Shuffles and Tricks of Lightning Calculators to Roller Coaster Rides into the Fourth Dimension

Genres: Mathematics, Science, Nonfiction, Puzzles

274 pages, Hardcover

First published January 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

[Jim Razinha · Rating 4 out of 5]

More enjoyable for me than the last couple. Cards, Piet Hien, great mini puzzles, a mention of Brighter than a Thousand Suns, one of News Scientist's top 25 most influential popular science books (on my long term reading list to get to all of them, so guess what's next?), and in addition to a lot more, a new way to calculate the day of the week a date falls on...great stuff.

[Roberto Zanasi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inutile descrivere i libri di Martin Gardner. In questo, di notevole c'è la descrizione del gioco Sprout, di cui ho finalmente imparato il nome. Il gioco l'ho conosciuto tanti anni fa su un manuale delle Giovani Marmotte...

[Buje · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una delicia de leer. Un montón de curiosidades explicadas de forma amena para todos los públicos. Se pueden pasar horas intentando resolver todos los retos propuestos o ser mas perezoso y continuar leyendo porque Gardner nos da las soluciones al final de cada capítulo.

[Ardyth]

This is so over my head, you guys! :-D

Each chapter plays with a different aspect (type?) of mathematical theory... aleph null & aleph one, hypercubes, etc. I'm consistently okay for the first three or four pages, but around that point he loses me completely.

It was fun to read about the various tricks performance speed calculators use, but that was the only section I really understood.

Made it about halfway...

I think if you have a baseline in advanced math (NOT calculation / arithmetic, but the mathy way of thinking about the multiverse) you might really enjoy this. I did enjoy what parts I could understand. :)