Mathematical Circus

by Martin Gardner

The twenty chapters of this book are nicely balanced between all sorts of stimulating ideas, suggested by down-to-earth objects like match sticks and dollar bills as well as by faraway objects like planets and infinite random walks. We learn about ancient devices for arithmetic and about modern explanations of artificial intelligence. There are feasts here for the eyes and hands as well as for the brain.

Genres: Science, Mathematics, Nonfiction, Puzzles

296 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

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

[Ed Erwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved Gardner's articles on recreational math (and other random topics) back in the day. Nowadays I can scratch that itch with online videos, but it is neat to be reminded of what was available back in 1968! Chapter 9 is "Can Computers Think?". I won't spoil the answer for you, but that "Eliza" program he discusses sure does sound human!

[Amelia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a good old fashioned math fun book.
I really enjoyed it, and I think the independent chapter format makes it a great bathroom/coffee table read. You can read a 10 page chapter as a finite story. It felt mostly accessible, but with a few hints towards higher level mathematics (not many).

The authour writes little puzzles into each chapter that the reader has the ability to try to solve by themselves before being given the answers, which makes it very interactive, but also I didn't always put the pressure on myself to try to solve the problem without reading the answer. Whatever felt right.

I do think the book is a little dated which has both pros and cons. Pros: the mathematic problems discussed are probably better suited for an audience that enjoys paper and pencil problems. There is a limit to the complexity of algorithms that can be discussed because computers were limited, which I think gives a nice consistency to the book in that the computational complexity of most of the problems remains below a certain limit. Cons: the generic masculine is used, and there is kind of the feel of an old boys club at times. At the same time, there are frequent references to readers of the magazine the columns were originally written for and it's a nice reminder that all sorts of people are interested in recreational math. It's fun to think about people thinking about these problems in their extra time.

[Paky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muy entretenido, cargado de curiosidades y juegos de muy diverso tipo. A cada uno le podrán interesar más unas cosas que otras. A mí los temas de ajedrez no me atraen mucho y el tema de esferas y hiperesferas me supera. La geometría tiene su encanto, pero prefiero las curiosidades y juegos numéricos. En cualquier caso, siempre te sorprenderá algún capítulo.

[Pedro Blanco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tiene curiosidades y acertijos bastante chulos, se me hizo un poco bola porque iba intentando resolverlos y también porque tiene algún capítulo más denso.

Espero recuperar un poco más el hábito de lectura ahora que lo acabé.

[Angelica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Realmente esperaba otro tipo de contenido. Sin embargo, es interesante.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Numbers and math really is amazing. This is a great coffee table book to read a chapter at a time.

[Teji · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mathematical explanations, phenomena, puzzles and games.

[Jess JK · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gave this book 5 stars because it began my life long passion for maths. Before I read this (around age 12) I thought maths consisted basically of dry mechanical problems. This was the first book that gave me an idea of the creativity and scope of mathematics.

[Jim Razinha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful book. Boole and Turing, abacus math, optical illusions, palindromes, compass geometry, rotations, triangles, randomness, lots of numbers and other problems. And I confess to never having thought about hyperspheres before reading this book.

One of his better collections.

[Liedzeit Liedzeit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hm. Das Buch, das ich gelesen habe, heißt Mathematischer Zirkus. Hat aber diese isbn.

2022. Aus Versehen noch einmal gekauft, obwohl das in meiner Bibliothek herumsteht. Und darum nochmal gelesen. Was es nicht wirklich verdient hätte.

[Liedzeit Liedzeit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Zirkus. Ob der Titel so gelungen ist? Inhaltlich wie gewohnt. 7/10