The_Mathemagician_and_Pied_Puzzler-ed_Berlekamp_Rodgers.pdf

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Contents
Foreword
Elwyn Berlekamp and Tom Rodgers
I Personal Magic
Martin Gardner: A “Documentary”
Dana Richards
Ambrose, Gardner, and Doyle
Raymond Smullyan
A Truth Learned Early
Carl Pomerance
Martin Gardner = Mint! Grand! Rare!
Jeremiah Farrell
Three Limericks: On Space, Time, and Speed
Tim Rowett
II Puzzlers
A Maze with Rules
Robert Abbott
Biblical Ladders
Donald E. Knuth
Card Game Trivia
Stewart Lamle
Creative Puzzle Thinking
Nob Yoshigahara
v
vi
Contents
Number Play, Calculators, and Card Tricks:
Mathemagical Black Holes
Michael W. Ecker
Puzzles from Around the World
Richard I. Hess
OBeirnes Hexiamond
Richard K. Guy
Japanese Tangram (The Sei Shonagon Pieces)
Shigeo Takagi
How a Tangram Cat Happily Turns into the Pink Panther
Bernhard Wiezorke
Pollys Flagstones
Stewart Coffin
Those Peripatetic Pentominoes
Kate Jones
Self-Designing Tetraflexagons
Robert E. Neale
The Odyssey of the Figure Eight Puzzle
Stewart Coffin
Metagrobolizers of Wire
Rick Irby
Beautiful but Wrong: The Floating Hourglass Puzzle
Scot Morris
Cube Puzzles
Jeremiah Farrell
The Nine Color Puzzle
Sivy Fahri
Twice: A Sliding Block Puzzle
Edward Hordern
Planar Burrs
M. Oskar van Deventer
Contents
vii
Block-Packing Jambalaya
Bill Cutler
Classification of Mechanical Puzzles and
Physical Objects Related to Puzzles
James Dalgety and Edward Hordern
III Mathemagics
A Curious Paradox
Raymond Smullyan
A Powerful Procedure for Proving Practical Propositions
Solomon W. Golomb
Misfiring Tasks
Ken Knowlton
Drawing de Bruijn Graphs
Herbert Taylor
Computer Analysis of Sprouts
David Applegate, Guy Jacobson, and Daniel Sleator
Strange New Life Forms: Update
Bill Gosper
Hollow Mazes
M. Oskar van Deventer
Some Diophantine Recreations
David Singmaster
Who Wins Misère Hex?
Jeffrey Lagarias and Daniel Sleator
An Update on Odd Neighbors and Odd Neighborhoods
Leslie E. Shader
Point Mirror Reflection
M. Oskar van Deventer
How Random Are 3x + 1 Function Iterates?
Jeffrey C. Lagarias
Forward
Martin Gardner has had no formal education in mathematics, but he has
had an enormous influence on the subject. His writings exhibit an extraor-
dinary ability to convey the essence of many mathematically sophisticated
topics to a very wide audience. In the words first uttered by mathematician
John Conway, Gardner has brought “more mathematics, to more millions,
than anyone else."
In January 1957, Martin Gardner began writing a monthly column called
“Mathematical Game” in Scientific American . He soon became the influen-
tial center of a large network of research mathematicians with whom he cor-
responded frequently. On browsing through Gardner’s old columns, one is
struck by the large number of now-prominent names that appear therein.
Some of these people wrote Gardner to suggest topics for future articles;
others wrote to suggest novel twists on his previous articles. Gardner per-
sonally answered all of their correspondence.
Gardner’s interests extend well beyond the traditional realm of mathe-
matics. His writings have featured mechanical puzzles as well as mathe-
matical ones, Lewis Carroll, and Sherlock Holmes. He has had a life-long
interest in magic, including tricks based on mathematics, on sleight of hand,
and on ingenious props. He has played an important role in exposing char-
latans who have tried to use their skills not for entertainment but to assert
supernatural claims. Although he nominally retired as a regular columnist
at Scientific American in 1982, Gardner’s prolific output has continued.
Martin Gardner’s influence has been so broad that a large percentage
of his fans have only infrequent contacts with each other. Tom Rodgers
conceived the idea of hosting a weekend gathering in honor of Gardner
to bring some of these people together. The first “Gathering for Gardner”
(G4G1) was held in January 1993. Elwyn Berlekamp helped publicize the
idea to mathematicians. Mark Setteducati took the lead in reaching the ma-
gicians. Tom Rodgers contacted the puzzle community. The site chosen was
Atlanta, partly because it is within driving distance of Gardner’s home.
The unprecedented gathering of the world’s foremost magicians, puz-
zlists, and mathematicians produced a collection of papers assembled by
ix
x
FORWARD
Scott Kim, distributed to the conference participants, and presented to Gard-
ner at the meeting. G4G1 was so successful that a second gathering was
held in January 1995 and a third in January 1998. As the gatherings have
expanded, so many people have expressed interest in the papers presented
at prior gatherings that A K Peters, Ltd., has agreed to publish this archival
record. Included here are the papers from G4G1 and a few that didn’t make
it into the initial collection.
The success of these gatherings has depended on the generous donations
of time and talents of many people. Tyler Barrett has played a key role
in scheduling the talks. We would also like to acknowledge the tireless
effort of Carolyn Artin and Will Klump in editing and formatting the final
version of the manuscript. All of us felt honored by this opportunity to join
together in this tribute to the man in whose name we gathered and to his
wife, Charlotte, who has made his extraordinary career possible.
Elwyn Berlekamp
Tom Rodgers
Berkeley, California
Atlanta, Georgia

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