Kirjahaku

This is an exciting if not rambling account of events of Raymond Smullyan's four lives — as a mathematical logician, musician, magician, and author — together with thoughts that come to his mind as he recalls them. This book includes topics from some of Smullyan's twenty-six books, as well as many of his favorite anecdotes and jokes. It also presents some generalizations of theorems of the great logicians Gödel and Tarski, and discusses logic in general, and how he won his wife with a logic trick! Smullyan also relates some of his teaching experiences, and expresses his views on mathematical education, and how our present textbooks are primarily responsible for its decline! About his life as a pianist, Smullyan relates a good deal about his experiences with the Piano Society — a wonderful organization to which he is a staunch contributor, and how he has had such delightful relations with many of its members. Last but not least, Smullyan recounts how he has known some lovely ladies over the years.

This is an exciting if not rambling account of events of Raymond Smullyan's four lives — as a mathematical logician, musician, magician, and author — together with thoughts that come to his mind as he recalls them. This book includes topics from some of Smullyan's twenty-six books, as well as many of his favorite anecdotes and jokes. It also presents some generalizations of theorems of the great logicians Gödel and Tarski, and discusses logic in general, and how he won his wife with a logic trick! Smullyan also relates some of his teaching experiences, and expresses his views on mathematical education, and how our present textbooks are primarily responsible for its decline! About his life as a pianist, Smullyan relates a good deal about his experiences with the Piano Society — a wonderful organization to which he is a staunch contributor, and how he has had such delightful relations with many of its members. Last but not least, Smullyan recounts how he has known some lovely ladies over the years.

Raymond Smullyan presents a bombshell puzzle so startling that it seems incredible that there could be any solution at all! But there is indeed a solution — moreover, one that requires a chain of lesser puzzles to be solved first. The reader is thus taken on a journey through a maze of subsidiary problems that has all the earmarks of an entertaining detective story.This book leads the unwary reader into deep logical waters through seductively entertaining logic puzzles. One example is Boolean algebra with such weird looking equations as 1+1=0 — a subject which today plays a vital role, not only in mathematical systems, but also in computer science and artificial intelligence.

Raymond Smullyan presents a bombshell puzzle so startling that it seems incredible that there could be any solution at all! But there is indeed a solution — moreover, one that requires a chain of lesser puzzles to be solved first. The reader is thus taken on a journey through a maze of subsidiary problems that has all the earmarks of an entertaining detective story.This book leads the unwary reader into deep logical waters through seductively entertaining logic puzzles. One example is Boolean algebra with such weird looking equations as 1+1=0 — a subject which today plays a vital role, not only in mathematical systems, but also in computer science and artificial intelligence.

'A wealth of examples to which solutions are given permeate the text so the reader will certainly be active.'The Mathematical GazetteThis is the final book written by the late great puzzle master and logician, Dr. Raymond Smullyan.This book is a sequel to my Beginner's Guide to Mathematical Logic.The previous volume deals with elements of propositional and first-order logic, contains a bit on formal systems and recursion, and concludes with chapters on Gödel's famous incompleteness theorem, along with related results.The present volume begins with a bit more on propositional and first-order logic, followed by what I would call a 'fein' chapter, which simultaneously generalizes some results from recursion theory, first-order arithmetic systems, and what I dub a 'decision machine.' Then come five chapters on formal systems, recursion theory and metamathematical applications in a general setting. The concluding five chapters are on the beautiful subject of combinatory logic, which is not only intriguing in its own right, but has important applications to computer science. Argonne National Laboratory is especially involved in these applications, and I am proud to say that its members have found use for some of my results in combinatory logic.This book does not cover such important subjects as set theory, model theory, proof theory, and modern developments in recursion theory, but the reader, after studying this volume, will be amply prepared for the study of these more advanced topics.

'A wealth of examples to which solutions are given permeate the text so the reader will certainly be active.'The Mathematical GazetteThis is the final book written by the late great puzzle master and logician, Dr. Raymond Smullyan.This book is a sequel to my Beginner's Guide to Mathematical Logic.The previous volume deals with elements of propositional and first-order logic, contains a bit on formal systems and recursion, and concludes with chapters on Gödel's famous incompleteness theorem, along with related results.The present volume begins with a bit more on propositional and first-order logic, followed by what I would call a 'fein' chapter, which simultaneously generalizes some results from recursion theory, first-order arithmetic systems, and what I dub a 'decision machine.' Then come five chapters on formal systems, recursion theory and metamathematical applications in a general setting. The concluding five chapters are on the beautiful subject of combinatory logic, which is not only intriguing in its own right, but has important applications to computer science. Argonne National Laboratory is especially involved in these applications, and I am proud to say that its members have found use for some of my results in combinatory logic.This book does not cover such important subjects as set theory, model theory, proof theory, and modern developments in recursion theory, but the reader, after studying this volume, will be amply prepared for the study of these more advanced topics.