Amusements in Mathematics (Classic Reprint) - Softcover

Henry Ernest Dudeney

Softcover

ISBN 10: 133026441X ISBN 13: 9781330264416

Publisher: Forgotten Books, 2018

Synopsis

Excerpt from Amusements in Mathematics

In issuing this new volume of my Mathematical Puzzles, of which some have appeared in the periodical press and others are given here for the first time, I must acknowledge the encouragement that I have received from many unknown correspondents, at home and abroad, who have expressed a desire to have the problems in a collected form, with some of the solutions given at greater length than is possible in magazines and newspapers. Though I have included a few old puzzles that have interested the world for generations, where I felt that there was something new to be said about them, the problems are in the main original. It is true that some of these have become widely known through the press, and it is possible that the reader may be glad to know their source.

On the question of Mathematical Puzzles in general there is, perhaps, little more to be said than I have written elsewhere. The history of the subject entails nothing short of the actual story of the beginnings and development of exact thinking in man. The historian must start from the time when man first succeeded in counting his ten fingers and in dividing an apple into two approximately equal parts. Every puzzle that is worthy of consideration can be referred to mathematics and logic. Every man, woman, and child who tries to "reason out" the answer to the simplest puzzle is working, though not of necessity consciously, on mathematical lines. Even those puzzles that we have no way of attacking except by haphazard attempts can be brought under a method of what has been called "glorified trial" - a system of shortening our labours by avoiding or eliminating what our reason tells us is useless. It is, in fact, not easy to say sometimes where the "empirical" begins and where it ends.

When a man says, "I have never solved a puzzle in my life," it is difficult to know exactly what he means, for every intelligent individual is doing it every day. The unfortu...

About this title

About the Author

The life of Henry Ernest Dudeney is certainly one of the more interesting. Coming from a line that includes a shepherd that taught himself the elements of both astronomy and mathematics, it became clear that Henry was destined for great things. By the time he turned 9, he began to publish the puzzles and problems that he was creating in his local newspaper. This is very impressive for a young man that never attended college or got anything more than a basic education. In 1893, he began to work with Sam Loyd on creating the mathematical puzzles that he remains famous for today. Of course, some of the more interesting puzzles that were created were done by Dudeney, but Loyd took full credit for them and published these items under his own name. Up until his death, Dudeney continued to create a series of puzzles that caught the attention of the world. After his death, his wife gathered a collection of these puzzles and released the book, Puzzles and Curious Problems in 1931.

Edition details

• Publisher: Forgotten Books
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 133026441X
• ISBN 13: 9781330264416
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 273