The vibrant recreational mathematics culture of Japan presents puzzles that are often quite different from the classics of western literature. This book is the first collection of original puzzles by Tadao Kitazawa, a prominent Japanese puzzle-maker. These puzzles, which feature arithmetic, geometry, and combinatorics, are novel, creative, and require almost no formal mathematical knowledge. Kitazawa is particularly skillful in subtly modifying existing ideas to explore their potential to the full. For one example, a Tower Square is a Sudoku-like grid, but each row and column contains one 1, two 2s, three 3s, etc. The resulting transformation of the familiar problem is magical, and it is one of a variety of gems in this book. The common denominator is fun!

Mathematical Recreations from the Tournament of the Towns contains the complete list of problems and solutions to the International Mathematics Tournament of the Towns from Fall 2007 to Spring 2021. The primary audience for this book is the army of recreational mathematicians united under the banner of Martin Gardner. It should also have great value to students preparing for mathematics competitions and trainers of such students. This book also provides an entry point for students in upper elementary schools. Features Huge recreational value to mathematics enthusiasts Accessible to upper-level high school students Problems classified by topics such as two-player games, weighing problems, mathematical tasks etc.

This compilation of long-inaccessible puzzles by a famous puzzle master offers challenges ranging from arithmetical and algebraical problems to those involving geometry, combinatorics, and topology, plus game, domino, and match puzzles. Includes answers.

This entertaining book presents a collection of 180 famous mathematical puzzles and intriguing elementary problems that great mathematicians have posed, discussed, and/or solved. The selected problems do not require advanced mathematics, making this book accessible to a variety of readers. Mathematical recreations offer a rich playground for both amateur and professional mathematicians. Believing that creative stimuli and aesthetic considerations are closely related, great mathematicians from ancient times to the present have always taken an interest in puzzles and diversions. The goal of this book is to show that famous mathematicians have all communicated brilliant ideas, methodological approaches, and absolute genius in mathematical thoughts by using recreational mathematics as a framework. Concise biographies of many mathematicians mentioned in the text are also included. The majority of the mathematical problems presented in this book originated in number theory, graph theory, optimization, and probability. Others are based on combinatorial and chess problems, while still others are geometrical and arithmetical puzzles. This book is intended to be both entertaining as well as an introduction to various intriguing mathematical topics and ideas. Certainly, many stories and famous puzzles can be very useful to prepare classroom lectures, to inspire and amuse students, and to instill affection for mathematics.

The present volume provides a fascinating overview of geometrical ideas and perceptions from the earliest cultures to the mathematical and artistic concepts of the 20th century. It is the English translation of the 3rd edition of the well-received German book “5000 Jahre Geometrie,” in which geometry is presented as a chain of developments in cultural history and their interaction with architecture, the visual arts, philosophy, science and engineering. Geometry originated in the ancient cultures along the Indus and Nile Rivers and in Mesopotamia, experiencing its first “Golden Age” in Ancient Greece. Inspired by the Greek mathematics, a new germ of geometry blossomed in the Islamic civilizations. Through the Oriental influence on Spain, this knowledge later spread to Western Europe. Here, as part of the medieval Quadrivium, the understanding of geometry was deepened, leading to a revival during the Renaissance. Together with parallel achievements in India, China, Japan and the ancient American cultures, the European approaches formed the ideas and branches of geometry we know in the modern age: coordinate methods, analytical geometry, descriptive and projective geometry in the 17th an 18th centuries, axiom systems, geometry as a theory with multiple structures and geometry in computer sciences in the 19th and 20th centuries. Each chapter of the book starts with a table of key historical and cultural dates and ends with a summary of essential contents of geometr y in the respective era. Compelling examples invite the reader to further explore the problems of geometry in ancient and modern times. The book will appeal to mathematicians interested in Geometry and to all readers with an interest in cultural history. From letters to the authors for the German language edition I hope it gets a translation, as there is no comparable work. Prof. J. Grattan-Guinness (Middlesex University London) "Five Thousand Years of Geometry" - I think it is the most handsome book I have ever seen from Springer and the inclusion of so many color plates really improves its appearance dramatically! Prof. J.W. Dauben (City University of New York) An excellent book in every respect. The authors have successfully combined the history of geometry with the general development of culture and history. ... The graphic design is also excellent. Prof. Z. Nádenik (Czech Technical University in Prague)

The first edition of Connections was chosen by the National Association of Publishers (USA) as the best book in OC Mathematics, Chemistry, and Astronomy OCo Professional and ReferenceOCO in 1991. It has been a comprehensive reference in design science, bringing together in a single volume material from the areas of proportion in architecture and design, tilings and patterns, polyhedra, and symmetry. The book presents both theory and practice and has more than 750 illustrations. It is suitable for research in a variety of fields and as an aid to teaching a course in the mathematics of design. It has been influential in stimulating the burgeoning interest in the relationship between mathematics and design. In the second edition there are five new sections, supplementary, as well as a new preface describing the advances in design science since the publication of the first edition. Contents: Proportion in Architecture; Similarity; The Golden Mean; Graphs; Tilings with Polygons; Two-Dimensional Networks and Lattices; Polyhedra: Platonic Solids; Transformation of the Platonic Solids I; Transformation of the Platonic Solids II; Polyhedra: Space Filling; Isometries and Mirrors; Symmetry of the Plane. Readership: Polytechnic students, architects, designers, mathematicians and general readers."