536 Puzzles & Curious Problems

✍ Scribed by Henry Ernest Dudeney, Martin Gardner (editor)

• Publisher: Scribner
• Year: 1967
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 456
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Henry Ernest Dudeney has been rightly called “the puzzle king.” As the Introduction says, “With respect to mathematical puzzles, especially problems of more than trivial mathematical interest, the quantity and quality of his output surpasses that of any other puzzlist before or since, in or out of England.”

Dudeney was born at Mayfield, in Sussex, in the mid-nineteenth century. He was so successful in his ability to invent entertaining puzzles and present them to the public in attractive ways that he became one of the first professional full-time puzzle makers in history, with an international reputation.

The present volume contains almost the entire contents of two of Dudeney’s best books, Modern Puzzles and Puzzles and Curious Problems, which have long been out of print and are extremely hard to obtain.

The puzzles are presented in a manner that will attract readers who have only an elementary acquaintance with mathematics, as well as those who possess more advanced knowledge of the science; and they are classified in such a way that the reader can easily satisfy his preference for any particular type: “Arithmetical and Algebraical Problems,” “Geometrical Problems,” “Combinatorial and Topological Problems,” “Game Puzzles,” “Domino Puzzles,” “Match Puzzles,” and “Unclassified Puzzles.” Solutions are presented for each of the 536 problems in this huge collection.

Martin Gardner, a modem puzzle king, has edited and written a biographical introduction to the book. He has selected and adapted the puzzles for today’s reader and, in the answers section, has added some comments of his own, showing, for example, how an answer has been improved or a problem extended by later puzzlists.

The new volume contains 421 charming drawings in black and white that enlivened the earlier editions of this great pathfinder’s work.

Henry Ernest Dudeney (1857-1930) was a self-taught mathematician. For two decades his puzzle page, “Perplexities,” illustrated by himself, ran in The Strand Magazine. Readers may also be familiar with his Amusements in Mathematics and The Canterbury Puzzles.

Martin Gardner, like Dudeney, has established a place for himself as a leading puzzlist. He is Editor of the Mathematical Games Department of Scientific American, and his books on scientific subjects include Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions and Fads and Fallacies.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Inside Flaps
Back Cover
Title
Contents
Introduction
Arithmetical and Algebraical Problems
Money Puzzles
Age Puzzles
Clock Puzzles
Speed and Distance Puzzles
Weight Puzzles
Digital Puzzles
Skeleton Puzzles
Cryptarithm Puzzles
Miscellaneous Puzzles
Geometrical Problems
Triangle, Square, and other Polygon Puzzles
Circle Puzzles
Dividing-the-Plane Puzzles
Plane Geometry Puzzles
Solid Geometry Puzzles
Dissection Puzzles
Paper Folding Puzzles
Moving Counter Puzzles
Combinatorial and Topological Problems
Magic Square Puzzles
Magic Star Puzzles
Liquid Pouring Puzzles
Route and Network Puzzles
Point Alignment Puzzles
Map Coloring Puzzles
Miscellaneous Combinatorial Puzzles
Game Puzzles
Domino Puzzles
Match Puzzles
Unclassified Puzzles
Answers
Index