Recreations category: 148 books
Puzzles, Games, & Tricks
Understanding the Mystery and Magic of Numbers
Language: English
Release Date: October 17, 2017
Fun facts, formulas, and Fibonacci numbers—a brain-teasing book that brings mathematical ideas to life.
Just how big is a billion? Well, if you had a billion dollars and invested it in a business that lost a thousand dollars a day, do you know how long it would take you to go broke? Answer:...
The Zen of Magic Squares, Circles, and Stars
An Exhibition of Surprising Structures across Dimensions
Language: English
Release Date: November 28, 2011
Humanity's love affair with mathematics and mysticism reached a critical juncture, legend has it, on the back of a turtle in ancient China. As Clifford Pickover briefly recounts in this enthralling book, the most comprehensive in decades on magic squares, Emperor Yu was supposedly strolling along...
Yearning for the Impossible
The Surprising Truths of Mathematics, Second Edition
Language: English
Release Date: April 27, 2018
Yearning for the Impossible: The Surprising Truth of Mathematics, Second Edition explores the history of mathematics from the perspective of the creative tension between common sense and the "impossible" as the author follows the discovery or invention of new concepts that have marked mathematical...
by Joao Pedro Neto, Jorge Nuno Silva
Language: English
Release Date: May 15, 2013
Language: English
Release Date: May 15, 2013
Perfect for those who enjoy intellectual challenges, this user-friendly and visually appealing collection offers both new and classic strategic board games. Chapters include two- and three-player games, a selection of mathematical games that features Nim and games on graphs, a survey of the theory and history of board games, and a lengthy glossary.
Geometric Magic Squares
A Challenging New Twist Using Colored Shapes Instead of Numbers
Language: English
Release Date: October 3, 2013
Traditional magic squares are squares of numbers in which the rows, columns, and diagonals all add up to the same total. With a voluminous literature going back some 2,500 years, the universal assumption has ever been that magic squares are inherently arithmetical objects. In this innovative work...
by Robert B. Banks
Language: English
Release Date: May 2, 2012
Language: English
Release Date: May 2, 2012
Have you ever daydreamed about digging a hole to the other side of the world? Robert Banks not only entertains such ideas but, better yet, he supplies the mathematical know-how to turn fantasies into problem-solving adventures. In this sequel to the popular Towing Icebergs, Falling Dominoes (Princeton,...
by Malba Tahan
Language: English
Release Date: May 4, 2015
Language: English
Release Date: May 4, 2015
“A great storyteller.”—Paulo Coelho, author of The Alchemist
Malba Tahan is the creation of a celebrated Brazilian mathematician looking for a way to bring some of the mysteries and pleasures of mathematics to a wider public. The adventures of Beremiz Samir, The Man Who Counted, take...
by Orin Chein, Bonnie Averbach
Language: English
Release Date: March 15, 2012
Language: English
Release Date: March 15, 2012
Historically, many of the most important mathematical concepts arose from problems that were recreational in origin. This book takes advantage of that fact, using recreational mathematics — problems, puzzles and games — to teach students how to think critically. Encouraging active participation...
Why Do Buses Come in Threes
The Hidden Mathematics of Everyday Life
Language: English
Release Date: February 24, 2000
"Deals in a very entertaining way with problems in normal life related to mathematics, luck, coincidence, gambling." - The Independent (London)
Why do your chances of winning the lottery increase if you buy your ticket on Friday? Why do traffic lights always seem to be red when you're...
The Proof and the Pudding
What Mathematicians, Cooks, and You Have in Common
Language: English
Release Date: April 27, 2015
Tie on your apron and step into Jim Henle's kitchen as he demonstrates how two equally savory pursuits—cooking and mathematics—have more in common than you realize. A tasty dish for gourmets of popular math, The Proof and the Pudding offers a witty and flavorful blend of mathematical treats and...
by Various
Language: English
Release Date: October 13, 2017
Language: English
Release Date: October 13, 2017
A fascinating collection of some fifty brain teasing games and puzzles using letters and numbers. These have been gleaned from Victorian times and earlier and are guaranteed to provide many hours of family entertainment. Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this book now in an affordable, high-quality, modern edition.
Why Are We Conscious?
A Scientist’s Take on Consciousness and Extrasensory Perception
Language: English
Release Date: July 20, 2017
There are two huge gaps in scientific theory. One, the contradiction between classical and quantum mechanics, is discussed in many publications. The other, the total failure to explain why anything made of atoms (such as ourselves) can be conscious, has little acknowledgement. The main thesis of this...
The Number Mysteries
A Mathematical Odyssey through Everyday Life
Language: English
Release Date: May 24, 2011
Every time we download music, take a flight across the Atlantic or talk on our cell phones, we are relying on great mathematical inventions. In The Number Mysteries, one of our generation's foremost mathematicians Marcus du Sautoy offers a playful and accessible examination of numbers and how, despite...
by John A. Adam
Language: English
Release Date: September 12, 2011
Language: English
Release Date: September 12, 2011
How heavy is that cloud? Why can you see farther in rain than in fog? Why are the droplets on that spider web spaced apart so evenly? If you have ever asked questions like these while outdoors, and wondered how you might figure out the answers, this is a book for you. An entertaining and informative...